Saturday, 24 December 2011

None of the above.

A vote for "none of the above" is called a Spoiled Ballot but should be tallied as proof of a failed nomination process.    When you walk out of a restaurant because the food and service suck you are not bad, the restaurant is.  It's the same in politics.

The good news is that spoiled ballots are tallied.  There is a trend towards letting voters vote no,  Nevada, the Ukraine, Spain and Colombia being examples.  Making news in the states, Voters are leaving Republican and Democratic parties in droves.   Voter identification with a single party is dropping but Independents are up some.  "Independent" is an American way of saying "none of the above".  The Democrats are losing twice as many as the Republicans and for every three voters the two parties lose, "Independent' gains one. That's two and a half million committed votes the main parties lost since the last presidential election.  Soon "Independent" will be the largest political affiliation in the United States and will want a bigger voice.   [Currently, D (42,000,000)  R (30,000,000) and Independent ( 24,000,000)]


We all look for more choice today.  Some will remember when the choice of ice cream was Vanilla, Chocolate or Strawberry in most emporia. How will more choice in politics be dished up? Some advocate more parties and ballot distribution by popular support rather than the decisive First-Past-The-Post method.  I would like MPs that more often represent the choices of their constituents and less often the crack of the party whip.



The same proliferation of choice shows in religious affiliation.  Many people now adopt None-of-the-Above while reporting they believe in a higher power.  They tailor-cut their faith with little direction from the creeds they loosely orbit.

I want to see "NONE OF THE ABOVE" on the ballot.




A fraction of this choice would be an improvement.



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