I’ve always been hard-left in my politics. If I believe in something, I tend to be “all-in” or not bother at all. As my mate Rowley says (about music I should add) “There’s only one way and that’s ALL-THE-WAY!”
The Centrist way got us Tony Blair (or Tony Bliar as I usually write it) which was good in parts (The Good Friday Agreement) but not so good in others (The invasion of Iraq). I thought Thatcher was an extremist in her policies, leading to some of the self-centred attitude of modern Britain. I’d prefer something more socialist, more about the good of all, not just the pursuit of wealth. But I appreciate I’m in the minority and as such I’ll rarely be heard above the centralist noise. Until now.
Centralist MPs seem to be leaving their parties left-and-right. Both say that their parties are becoming dominated by far-left or far-right factions. All very wall, you might say. At least there’s a clear alternative between the parties rather than the view that “they’re all the same”. This is true.
What I suppose I had not considered is that with such polarized positions, the country would send up becoming split in the same way. I had this hopeful view that common sense would prevail and extreme views would become ameliorated by the majority. How naive of me. We now have a divided society, which will continue to be divided long after we “get brexit done” and Britain is “dead in a ditch”.
So I’ve looked at tactical voting. Can we get a consensus on at least righting the far-right in the Conservative and Brexit Parties? Several websites have now appeared that suggest they can help you decide which party to vote for. However they too disagree over the recommendations. Getvoting.org suggests I vote Lib Dem. Tactical.vote suggests I vote Labour. Bother argue about their data being more accurate. Both disagree. Where does this leave me?
In some locations the decision to form an electoral pact may help me. The Lib Dem, Plaid Cymru and the Green Parties are working together to limit competition in some seats. Sadly, not my constituency.
Maybe the opinion of the tactical voting sites will converge as the campaign continues? However I feel I will have to “wing it” as usual, hope others do the same and hope The Conservatives lose the election.
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