indecision reigns (again)

So, it seems we are about to have a little election over here. At least I’m assuming that there will be a little election over here based on the fact that every lamppost has a poster with some smug looking politician’s likeness, my post has become a daily deluge of flyers and the TV and newspapers are beginning to bore me.

The trouble is, as ever, that I don’t know who to vote for. I look at my options and despair. The candidates for East Londonderry include:


Gregory Campbell (DUP) – our current MP. The DUP, and specifically Campbell, have held the seat since 2001 and that isn’t likely to change any time soon. The DUP’s stance on education make them really difficult for me to support. Campbell’s somewhat belligerent attitudes tend to turn me off as well.



Thomas Conway (SDLP) – a councillor from Derry. Despite the fact that Coleraine is the largest and greatest populated town in the constituency his reams of literature only seemed to mention it once. Or maybe I just fell asleep halfway through reading it. Inspiring it certainly isn’t.



Barney Fitzpatrick (Alliance) – I’d love to be able to vote for the Alliance, I really would. But supporting them is like sucking a huge ice cube, it makes you look silly and it’s a lot of pain for no gain. Until there’s some form of electoral reform there’s no point in Alliance even running in East Derry.

Billy Leonard (Sinn Fein) – as novelty value goes Billy has it all. A Sinn Feiner who used to be an RUC officer – and worse still – a member of the Orange Order! It makes me wonder if SF have to run him to fulfil some equal opportunities legislation. Having said that it would take much more than that to make me forgive the sins of the decades that hinder me voting for Sinn Fein. And I’ve just found out he’s not actually standing… It was just assumed he would be. Sorry about that.

Cathal Ó hOISÍN (Sinn Fein) – the actual Sinn Fein candidate. Pretty much everything that I said about Mr Leonard stands… except the interesting past bit. So, despite the fact that I could only find one of his posters littering Coleraine, and thus am extremely grateful to him, I won’t be voting for him.




Lesley McAuley (UCU) – for those who don’t know UCU stands for Unionist… Collation… Ulster… um… Conservatives…. United Cameron… All you need to know is that this is the Ulster Unionist party standing on a joint platform with the Conservative Party. I know little about the woman in question (although a much more political friend did make the point that I “couldn’t vote for THAT woman whatever party she ran for”) All that matters is the C in their name. The Conservatives will cut funding to Northern Ireland, make major cuts to the Public sector, cut funding to education, cut the number of teachers, give marrieds tax breaks, cut inheritance tax… David Cameron may as well have held up a photo of me and said “We’re going to take everything from him and give it to rich married English couples instead, ok?”
And just to show I was only pretending: Ulster Conservatives and Unionists.

William Ross (TUV) – Now I know you don’t need me to tell you how slim the chances are that I would even consider voting Traditional Unionist Voice. Apart for the silly name they are the least progressive, single issue driven, negative party I have known in a long time. Their leader, Jim Allister, comes across as a tired, bitter old man each time he appears on TV. Being asked to vote for them is like someone nudging you and saying “So… the troubles… those were great times, eh?” William Ross used to be our MP when he was a member of the Ulster Unionists. He did nothing of worth then so I can’t see myself putting an X beside his name on Thursday.

So you see, I really am in a pickle. I’d close my eyes and stick a pin into the candidates list if the danger of picking a TUV or Conservative candidate didn’t haunt my dreams every night. I wish I lived in Brighton so I could vote for the Green Party.
Okay. I’ve thought long and hard about it. I’ve weighed the pros and cons. I’ve decided. I’m going to vote for the bald headed one with the red nose (and I don’t mean Jim Allister)


ping pong politics

American politics. Wonderful. Mainly because it allows us in this little country to ignore the farce that is politics over here. We can overlook our first minister's wife and her discriminatory comments on national radio and instead be entertained by the circus, US style.

I try not to comment on american politics too often - Mainly because, let's face it, I haven't a clue what I'm talking about - but I was amused to hear the problems both candidates are having of late. It is ironic that the religious leaders being courted to win votes are turning out to be political liabilities, no?

John McCain is obviously trying to out-do Barack Obama's Rev Wright issue. Why have one problem pastor when you can have two? Earlier in the year he accepted endorsements from John "Hitler was sent to help the Jews" Hagee who, I believe, once described the Catholic Church as a whore. Another former supporter, Pastor Rod Parsley described Islam as “the mouthpiece of a conspiracy of spiritual evil,” and that Islam is an “anti-Christ religion that intends through violence to conquer the world.” McCain distanced himself from both of these men, and will undoubtedly lose some evangelical support for doing so.

Hopefully the incidents on both sides will force the agenda off religious posturing and onto real issues. I really do hope so for I am very concerned about the example these public religious leaders are setting. You see I don't recognise the aggressive, confrontational, suspicious, hate-filled rant spewing that seems so prevalent. Of course as a Christian you have to stand up for what you know to be the truth - but there are ways of being assertive that don't involve insular paranoia. If I were to offer advice it would verge dangerously into overly simplistic waters – Don’t put your faith in religious leaders, no human is perfect. In fact don’t try to win religious votes by courting pastors at all – win them by incorporating Christian values into your policies. If you are going to follow anything surely it should be God’s teaching, not Pastor Parsley’s.

Personally I would like to see a separation of Church and State when it comes to electioneering. That is not to see that I think that candidates should suppress their spiritual beliefs – I feel it is important that the people in charge should have a working faith. I want the Church to step away from the political system because, by getting involved, it appears corrupt and divided, and the Church should never be either of those.

Instead of the candidates batting religion back and forward maybe they could follow the Chinese and Japanese leaders’ example and bat a ball about. Apparently the two countries’ relations were greatly enhanced when the Chinese President, Hu Jintao , took on two Japanese Olympians at table tennis. The Japanese Prime Minister, Yasuo Fukuda, had planned to play against him but decided to “chicken out” Now that’s diplomacy.

Can you imagine if Obama and McCain fought out the presidency on a ping pong table – best of five. It would save a lot of time, money and make for scintillating viewing. And best of all Florida would have no say in the result!

vote mr c in 2008

I did a quick internet test to see who I should vote for in the 2008 American Presidential elections... Well who I should vote for if I was actually elligible to vote in the American Presidential Elections... If I was actually even American. Anyway, I thought it would be interesting.

Your Results:

1. Barack Obama (79%)
2. Dennis Kucinich (72%)
3. Christopher Dodd (71%)
4. Al Gore (67%)
5. Alan Augustson (66%)
6. Wesley Clark (65%)
7. John Edwards (65%)
8. Joseph Biden (64%)
9. Hillary Clinton (62%)
10.Bill Richardson (52%)
11.Mike Gravel (52%)
12.Ron Paul (45%)
13.Elaine Brown (36%)
14.Mike Huckabee (35%)
15.Rudolph Giuliani (33%)
16.John McCain (32%)
17.Kent McManigal (32%)
18.Tommy Thompson (30%)
19.Chuck Hagel (27%)
20.Mitt Romney (26%)
21.Fred Thompson (25%)
22.Newt Gingrich (24%)
23.Jim Gilmore (22%)
24.Sam Brownback (21%)
25.Duncan Hunter (21%)
26.Tom Tancredo (18%)

I'm actually surprised. Honestly. I would have believed that Obama would have been a bit on the popular side for me. I'm also shocked that 9 of my top 10 are Democrats (the other 5th placed candidate being a member of the Green Party. I may consider myself liberal but I would have thought there'd be at least one republican out there who shared some of my views.
And does the fact that Duncan Hunter and Barak Obama combined represent 100% mean that a Obama/Hunter team would be my perfect choice for President/Vice President. I suppose it only works if what constitutes Hunter's 21% is different from that of Obama's 79% - which is actually quite likely. Imagine having a Presidential team that is 100% in line with your opinions. It would be like being President myself. Vote Mr C!

Anyway, just to let you know I'll be making up a Barack Obama float to drive through the streets of Ballymoney in the run up to the election. All help would be appreciated and if anyone has a contact address for a marching band...

You can try the test for yourselves by clicking here if you want.

I used my voice - i just don't think anyone heard

So I went and handed in my vote. I won’t say what direction I voted – I know people who read this on both (all?) sides who wouldn’t speak to me for weeks either way. I remember once at a BB Camp telling one of the helpers I had voted a certain way. Within minutes he had announced this to all the other helpers and most of the boys – hardly the most discrete person I’ve met. So much for secret ballots. I wouldn’t have minded so much but I wasn’t actually being serious when I told him… still, reputations are formed on less.

A

nyway, as usual I turned up in the closing minutes of voting. I like to leave it to the last minute in case some reaction to the election changes my mind. There was a volunteer outside the Polling Station who handed me a piece of paper showing how to vote in order to maximise the DUP mandate. He didn’t say anything, try to gauge my intentions. I wanted him to say “I trust you will be supporting the DUP this evening?” I wanted to ask him his policy on education and the environment. I wanted to listen earnestly to his reply then point out that that is the precise reason I wouldn’t be supporting the DUP that evening. He didn’t say anything.

So you know I didn’t vote DUP but that is hardly a surprise. And, in all likelihood, I doubt if they really missed my vote.

Mr Paisley would have proved it is possible to triumph at the ballot box without abandoning religious views considered prehistoric or abhorrent by mainstream Christianity. His website still contains polemics against Roman Catholicism, Billy Graham and Jesus Christ Superstar.
Van Peebles Land

I live in a particularly unionist part of the world. It would be a massive shock if the good Dr’s crowd didn’t match or improve upon their standing in 2003. I reckon it’ll turn out a bit like this:

And if the results do turn out like that I'm going to quit my job immediately and start training to be the next Peter Snow. Despite the fact that it has been one of the lowest-key elections in years with everyone expecting a dead cert and parties lacking motivation for a full out fight there was an impressive turnout. Over 60% in my area. Having said that with minutes remaining there wasn't too much of a queue when I arrived.

I was a long time in the booth – there was quite a queue when I left. It wasn’t that I was finding it tough to come to a final decision – I just found it interesting looking at the list of candidates. For the first time I noticed that five of them – fully one third of the candidates came from the small town in which I teach. Each of the main parties had a candidate from Limavady – as did the Green Party. I didn’t know it was such a political town; well not beyond writing sectarian slogans on walls anyway. Maybe I should pay more attention to the kids I teach – one of them may just represent me in Stormont someday.

who to vote for...

Dave presents a rather unnerving projection of the state of the union after the various regional and national elections facing us in the next few years.

voters in Northern Ireland will probably elect the unashamedly fundamentalist Protestant leader Ian Paisley and ex-IRA commander Martin McGuinness into power.

Inevitable

The Welsh Assembly elections on May 3 may well result in the formation of a Labour-Plaid Cymru coalition

 Scarey

Scottish National Party has a sneezing chance of winning the keys to Edinburgh’s sparkling parliament building on the same day

Scarier

Feelings of ecstatic liberation at having a nationalist party in power may prompt the Scots to vote in a referendum for independence... Sinn Fein would then claim the UK is effectively dead. and it could tell its followers to expect formal Irish unity by 2021... Isolated Protestants in the northwest of Ulster would start talking about negotiating a separate union with England and Wales.

Scariest

I have to admit that I have a tiny wicked desire to see this happen - just for the sheer interest of it all. At the same time I would probably emmigrate so I could witness the excitement from a safe distance.

In a few weeks I will head off to a local primary school to vote (lucky primary school teachers must get the day off.) I will (dv) definitely vote - I take that responsibility seriously. The thing is, at this stage I have absolutely no idea who I will be voting for.

I'm not one of those tribalists who votes for the party his father, grandfather and Noah voted for. And I'm not of the opinion that your vote is defined by the Church you attend - why restrict your opinions to two or three parties because the rest go to mass on a Saturday night instead of heading down to the local RP, FP or P on a Sabbath morning?

What are my options? Well, in my area the DUP are hot favourites to take all that they survey. Despite their reluctance to enter into power sharing they're not so reluctant when it comes to electioneering. Within hours of the election date being announced they had their banner up in the most prominent position Coleraine has to offer. My major problem with them is that I disagree with their policies on the Environment and Education. I would find it hard to vote for someone who doesn't share my principles when it comes to Education.

Next up we have Sinn Fein. Its hard to trust ex terrorists as a rule. It's even harder to trust ex terrorists who can talk for twenty minutes without actually saying anything or can turn a valid criticism of republicanism into a damning indictment of the british government. I admire the strides they've taken - but am I ready to vote for them? I'm not so sure.

The SDLP. Where Sinn Fein can turn a position of weakness into a position of strength the SDLP are adept at the return journey. I was very disappointed with their handling of the policing situation in recent times and it really shook my faith. They need to work hard to regain respect in the community.

UUP. The Ulster Unionist have had a hard time of it lately. Has a stint in opposition done them good? Not a bit of it. Instead of fighting tooth and nail to regain power the UUP have been practically anonymous. Oh, I must admit Reg Empey did call the DUP naive on Friday... that'll have them quaking. While the DUP and Sinn Fein have been painting to country red, blue, white, green and gold for weeks I saw my first UUP banner two days ago. It's like they are counting on past glories and I think somebody needs to tell them that the recent past hasn't been very glorious for them.

The Alliance Party. Good old yellow pages. They're the party we'd like to vote for but never do. They say nice things and paint a lovely bright yellow future. Unfortunately they have all the bite of a box of stale cornflakes. Maybe someday... but not today.

As for the rest, Conservative Party (the tories?! I think not), Green Party (like Alliance but more green than yellow), Make Politicians History (funny name - not much else), People Before Profit (Socialism is much easier to say), Procapitalism (probably invite the People Before Profit folk round for tea all the time), Progressive Unionist Party (interesting bunch - their bark tends to be louder than their bite), Socialist Environmental Alliance (appear to be mixing the greens with alliance - makes a greeny yellow I think), Socialist Party (more honestly named than the PBP lot), United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP?!? you can't be serious), Workers Party (if all the workers in the country voted for them I reckon they'd stand a better chance.)

I'll look into the Independent's when I have an hour to waste. Maybe by March I will have a better idea of who to vote for. I hope I do. Is it possible to put -1 -2 and -3 instead of 1,2 and 3 on your ballot paper?