At long last it's Election Day! It has been a fascinating if not particularly edifying campaign, and what has been made most clear after weeks of seemingly endless debate is the extreme volatility of the electorate, 40% of whom, we are told, have still to make up their minds as to how they will vote.
Yet modern P.R. and the 'black arts' of the political spin doctors have made us all cynical. There are some fairly good reasons for that. There is a definite aversion on the part of politicians of all parties to answer any direct question, and the 'presidential' style public appearances of all the party leaders, decorative spouses in tow, only serves to highlight their failure to address the real crisis facing our economy and society alike.
What stands out about this election? Speaking of cynicism, I have to admit that my own reaction to news of David Cameron's all through the night campaigning was to assume it had been arranged by the party managers not to increase contact with the voters but to make him seem young and vigorous in comparison to the older, greyer Gordon Brown. You see, it gets to us all.
In the aftermath of the 'bigotgate' incident, the Prime Minister's own assertions that he had "misunderstood" what Mrs Gillian Duffy had said to him earlier in Rochdale hardly had the ring of authenticity about it (again, rather than taking his word for it, I'm preferring the cynical response) and one actually fears for the future of the democratic process when "celebrity endorsements" are considered to be a factor in swaying people's voting intentions. Eddie Izzard, Michael Caine? Some girl from the cast of Eastenders?
And in the interests of balance, isn't there something rather curious about parading Professor Richard Dawkins as a supporter of the LibDems, the successors of the party once supported by Father Stanton and G.K.Chesterton? Who are they hoping to appeal to, the bigoted, ill-informed, aggressively atheist community? Definitely one to keep quiet about.
Anyway, I've made my cynical way down to the village hall and cast my vote. I'm told business has been brisk. Now comes the interesting bit.
When I got to the polling booth I had a problem as to which party would see us to be 'godly and quietly governed' and even more so that 'all in authority may truly and indifferently minister justice, to the punishment of wickedness and vice, and to the maintenance of thy true religion and virtue' As you say where have been any serious discussion on how Britain can work together to build a fair society,tackles the difficult problems and that values and cares for all. Are we just expected to vote for one of the three 'saviours' on offer and blindly trust
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