OK, so here is my personal election post. It is long.
I make no apologies for that. You
don’t have to read it, but it would be nice to think that some of you will. It's also a Party Political post.
I want to explain why I feel so passionately about
this election. I haven’t done this sort
of thing before but I will try what I can to make the point because I believe
it is vital.
I've never felt so despairing about what a government is
doing. So many public services undermined. How can that be right?
Recent history also shows us the people working in our
essential public services - like police officers, doctors, nurses, teachers -
have been increasingly struggling to offer the services they are committed to
providing but are not given the resources to do so and those individuals trying
to serve our community in these services are near to breaking point.
Statistics say that one in four of us (last time I heard, might not be current) will suffer from mental illness in our lifetime. So if you haven't suffered yourself, you probably know someone who has, and you will know the role stress plays in that. And know that eventually people crumble and can't go to work. I fear that our doctors, nurses and police will soon reach that point. I know that many of our teachers have already done so and others are on the brink. When people eventually crumble in larger numbers, we’ll see even more struggling services. And again, treating people who work for our benefit like this just can’t be right.
The Labour Party has a manifesto which commits to reversing
so many of the cuts to public services.
Unlike manifestos in some elections, which could be criticised for being
not thought out, this one explains that more funding for public services will
be provided by higher taxes from the top 5% of the population.
Now, if you’re one of those in the top 5% I can see you
might have got used to how much you earn and can spend and might not want to do
that much, not because you can’t but because you don’t want to help everyone
else at your own expense. But for the
rest of us, the vast majority … And actually, I don’t believe that all high
earners would be against paying more.
When I started work the basic rate for tax was 33%. It seemed fair enough at the time. I earned money, I paid a chunk of it to the
government to pay for things I might or might not need but would certainly
expect to be there if I ever did need them.
Taking the wider picture, I also wanted those things to be there for
everyone else. The rest of my money I
spent directly on the other things I needed, such as shelter, food and
clothing. But they were all things I
needed and understood I should pay for.
Now we pay much lower basic rate of tax and still none of the parties
contesting this election is suggesting that the basic rate goes up. Only the top 5% of earners are going to be
asked to pay more tax.
I cannot understand how people can believe it’s ok to
mistreat the poor, sick and underprivileged.
The top 5% is really not very many of the population. Why aren’t the other 95% united in wanting to
support our communities?
All the major religions believe in helping others and
atheists are not exempt from being decent, caring people.
In anyone’s eyes, how can austerity be a morally good way to
run a country?
I don’t think that people who vote Tory are bad people
themselves. I know that some of my
friends have often done so and are possibly planning to do so again.
But this time.
This time.
This time is surely different. The recent policy of austerity, which is set
to continue under the Tory manifesto, surely is just not right.
I expect most people reading this, and certainly reading it
to the end, have already decided how to vote and I may anyway have been preaching to the converted. If you think anything I’ve written might help
a floating voter, though, please feel free to pass it on.
I don’t know whether to hope or not. Hoping is more pleasant. Disappointment can be awful.