campaign – Aspirational Adventures

Renly outside our local polling station.

Today was a local election. Not even a county one. Just a town one. But because it is an election I believe it is my moral duty to all those people, not just the women, who fought so that everyone could have the vote, not just a selected few, that I need to turn up at the polling station.

But that’s where the dilemma comes. I have been a socialist, as a teen and young adult I even joined the Communist party for a while and subscribed to The Morning Star. As time has passed I’ve become more and more disillusioned with politics. They all seem a bit same old same old and not really in touch with day to day life.

So the choices were – a local lad of just 19 doing a politics degree in the capital four hours drive from our town, someone from Reform UK and then I noticed a name I recognised, a poet I had worked with 7 years ago.

The nineteen year old was keen and knocked on doors, handed out leaflets, but then he was funded by the local Conservative party who have money to spend on campaigning. He was lovely to chat to, very keen, very enthusiastic. And he was the only one to knock. But the bit I struggled with was the Conservative party rhetoric of it almost being every man/local area/community for themselves whereas I’m more of a global person believing what we do here does affect people across the world.

The Reform UK guy might have come round but his leaflet came when we were out so who knows. But then I find the whole thing of blaming immigrants for the ills of our country is not the way to look at things. Again to me it that global thing that we all need to be working together, supporting each other. I also believe that most people who migrate to another country do it because their own country isn’t safe to live in. I think most of them would rather stay at in their own lands but cannot do it for fear of so so much we’d never understand int his country.

The poet guy I know didn’t appear at all. Or if he did we were out. And he didn’t drop in a leaflet so we don’t know his views on anything.

But then at the last general election we only met our Labour candidate though knew a couple of the others because they were local – so we knew them and their blemishes too.

So who to vote for? It is so hard especially as there seems to be such a lackadaisical approach from those who were standing – apart from the Conservatives and their budget to campaign. But still I made my way to the polling station with my dog and put my cross where I felt it was right to put it and walked away hoping I was helping to keep democracy ticking over.

Crowdfunding or Begging

Last week I went down South to visit my mum and catch up with some friends. My chosen companion whilst driving is Radio 4. So I drive for about 5 hours listening to various things, some of which stay with me and some I just forget.

One thing that stayed with me was an article about people who were struggling to pay their bills who were putting up pages on GoFundMe or similar crowdfunding pages. The one woman that they concentrated their feature on was a young woman who had only just gained an MA in journalism but was now out of work. She had set up a page to pay her rent and bills until she got the job she wanted. One of the reasons she was on was that she had raised more than she had asked for. At one point in the interview she said that she knew she could take any job but that she wanted to wait to get into her chosen profession.

What I wanted to know were her thoughts to the homeless person she probably walked past regularly, the beggar on the street, the tramp. Did she and those that had given to her campaign see those people as valid? Would they give as much to them?

I think too often we judge by the cover. So people will give to the pretty young woman who has fallen on hard times but not to the smelly dirty person who is on the street.

I also think that by giving on one of these crowdfunding sites one can distance oneself from the cause. It just takes the push of a Paypal button and money is moved to this woman’s account. I do remember my daughter saying that when she was in London more and more buskers especially were getting these free credit card machines and it did increase their takings. None contact. None involvement.

Whether it is the pretty young woman who wants a top job and isn’t willing to be a part time barmaid or supermarket worker or the long term homeless, is it that we really do not want to know the why of how they got to that place? Are we willing to slow things down, get into a dialogue, find out what is really going on? I think I am as much to blame. It is easier just to push that campaign button, that easy give button, that “sign here” button, than it is to slow my life down, work out what areas of live I really do want to focus on and really dig deep into what is going on here.

Just an aside – when I was planning this post it was going to be very much about berating the middle class aspirations and how no one cares about the downtrodden, but as I have written, as often happens with me and writing, I have changed my view point. I am now pointing back at me and asking what would I really do? Am I similar to what has gone on? Sometimes I think it is good for all of us to have a real look at what we are saying and whether we too are hiding behind something.