AGAINST THE TIDE..

So we`re off and running then.  The Great General Election Campaign has begun and already I`m tired of all the noise, the sniping, the accusations, the insults and the media frenzy.   Now there seems to be an assumption that one of the two `major parties` will be governing us after May 7th, improbably on their own with a workable majority or in coalition with some other outfit, some `minor party,` intent on grasping the greasy pole, unable to resist the lure of `power` for its own sake and seducing us with platitudes and false promises.

Does it have to be like that?  Well, maybe it does given the unwillingness of the electorate to see beyond the cross on the ballot paper.   Now my `problem` - if that`s what it is - is that I can`t find it in my heart to support either of the `major parties.`   Been there, done that and most of the time I`ve followed the unthinking, meandering herd and inevitably been disappointed.   So this time I`m determined to vote for someone different.  I don`t know who yet and I`m pretty sure it won`t make much difference anyway - maybe things would be different if voting was compulsory or there were boxes on the ballot paper such as `None of the above` or `You`re having a laugh.`   If only there was a Football Party.

So I`ll be swimming against the tide, I suspect.  But when I do so, it will be as a result of a genuine conviction, which is that I am desperate for change.  Change in the way we are `governed,` change in the way our `leaders` are selected and change in the assumptions that the political elite have developed and protected for themselves over the years.

My conviction will doubtless be doomed to failure - it might be pointless, a futile gesture even.....but in sticking by it at least I will be making my small challenge to the status quo and the inherent smugness of our political `leaders.`   But what if we all did it?