Today...

for who ? Trump ?

National and local elections in UK, I presume. Happy voting, gents and lasses!

i forgot , Trump, was a ( not funny ) joke of course ! :-)

As I went to vote this evening, I passed one of the other parents from my kids school at the polling station, only to discover at the booth that she was one of the candidates.

Thankfully we don't chat political views in the playground

so you are voting for Brexzit ? ( what a name it makes me think to this awful bastard shitty Norway fascist killer, Breixnit ) ..
And you , all in the forum,,are you for Europe or not ?
I am not sure that you are all to stay with us, French baguettes, apart for wine and cheese :-)
And Chinese packs of dry soup , Yum Yum

No point voting, waste of time, makes no difference, politicians are pawns and fall men/women they have no more say than us. Its a money world. Goal posts just get shifted, if theres something you feel passionately about spend the day planning an action and then find a way to make it happen, dont wait for one of these guys to do it for you, words are easy, whoever says the words that resonate with the most people gets the best annual salary.
Maybe im a tad cynical?
In times past politicians had more power because they owned more land/had more money, Cromwell, Rich Rich etc main aim was to insure they crossed the kings palm with more gold than he had before with their decisions which they were rewarded for in land/buildings, that went down the foodchain. Nowadays Big pharma etc is were the real money is, the real decisions are made there. Let them have that, keep them happy we'll just change this, thatll balance it out.

I wonder how many people who do not vote have voted in reality TV competitions? I wonder how they would feel if they had the franchise removed, perhaps back to when only land owning men could vote? 'Voting doesn't make a difference'. Perhaps it would, if more of us did it...

I believe that our democracy has malfunctioned and continues to malfunction horribly, and that Britain urgently requires, at the very least, significant electoral reform before there can be a reversal of the increasing disconnect between the people and their so-called representatives. However I also think that electing a progressive, liberal Moslem to significant public office, in the face of an ugly, xenophobic campaign against him, is a good and worthwhile thing, and was worth voting for.

true, and really not much has changed since.. well.... Kennedy wouldn't have beaten Nixon if it weren't for tv, I'm sure someone wouldn't have beaten someone if it weren't for radio.... print. etc

what's really needed is a viable third party here in the US, but it ain't gonna happen. closest we've had recently was Nader, but no offense to the Greens, but smoking pot doesn't win an election

Not sure it makes any difference though to the rich and powerful how many vote, that graph of how the wealth is divided is getting much steeper, and much steeper much faster, same as always but on a bigger scale. Maybe it does make a difference, its just my viewpoint, i hate politics. Whoever invented Yop gets my vote

Certainly agree with points, they do distract, they do misinform etc. alcohol, cigarettes, shit food(sugar,dairy,aspartim...), all keep us subdued and below our best, theres too many examples, Holland and barrets and Boots are owned by the same company Carlyle group, polar opposites who should be against each other but youll get one each in every town running promotions to work for each other.
It has never gotten better, government/politicians decisions make these guys rich fast, everyone gets a slice, well everyone willing to bend gets a slice of the pie. Property developers thrived because they had politicians in their back pocket.

I am a little bit tired of this discussion about to vote or not to vote. Everybody who is older than 25has it's own perspective and 95% are staying with it until they die. So maybe it is nonsense to tell you but I'm in the mood right now
I would never say that I am right and somebody is wrong because of voting. It is a difficult thing...
But what I can tell you is a personal experience I had. My hometown had a major from one political direction for over 20years.
4years ago the candidate from the other wing surprisingly won the election and a lot of small things changed here. Of course there is still a lot of shit happening, but you have that moments when you recognize that something changed which wouldn't have changed if it was still the same major or the same party. It are small changes and everything is very slow, but I'm sure some of the changes will stay because they are smart and effective. That's what brought me to the point to think that we don't actually vote for ourselves, more for those who come after us. If my votes can affect many small benefits to my environment all this will lead to a "better" place in the future... Of course better doesn't mean good but hey I'm glad that I can do small effects and not none!

All this is my personal opinion and I'm kind of drunk at the moment, so please don't tell me what to think right now
Maybe I regret everything I've just wrote tomorrow...