Whatever your low opinion of politics, you aren't helping yourself by not voting

Ho! Ho! Ho! A general election will take place on December 12. If that doesn’t get you all Christmassy then nothing will.
Another general election is upon us.Another general election is upon us.
Another general election is upon us.

For Christmas is the time of snarling, lying, believing any old cobblers on Facebook that suits our prejudices, blaming, question-dodging, demonising and referring to anyone who disagrees with us as brainwashed, an idiot or a traitor.

All is calm, all is bright…

Respectful disagreement is decidedly unfashionable, although the negative traits outlined above are nothing new.

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But deliberate misinformation - and unquestioning acceptance of it - must be at its post-Goebbells peak. And it won’t let up between now and the election.

As you may have deduced, I’m not keenly anticipate of the election. Is anyone? But I guarantee you I will vote. Why would anyone not?

In a recent poll conducted by the Echo, a narrow majority was in favour of giving 16-year-olds the vote.

This might not be ideal. I am reliably told that 16-year-olds are ill-informed, feckless and interested in nothing except their own gratification.

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However, the difference between them and certain 50-year-olds I could name ... is 34 years; and 50-year-olds can vote.

Why worry? The-16 year-olds who genuinely fit into that grotesque and patently silly generalisation won’t vote anyway.

The ill-informed, feckless and interested in nothing except their own gratification community - of any age - are seldom seen queuing into the polling booth at 7am on election day.

A voter, regardless of age, is someone who actually employs considered thought.

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Many feel they’re voting for bad instead of worse. But they’re still making a considered choice.

Leavers and remainers constantly argue, often belligerently, with those misguided weirdos who voted differently to them on June 23, 2016. Yet it seems odd that both sides are mutually obsessed, while disregarding the people who really need a shake. Non-voters.

Nationally the referendum saw 28% of the electorate not bothering to vote. In Sunderland it was an embarrassing 39%.

Was the minimal effort required to vote unworthy of their time? I’ve looked at the television schedule for June 23, 2016. It wasn’t up to much.

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There are some who imagine not voting is clever, or even funny. They can’t be helped. Why would anyone try to when they are virtually asking to be disregarded?

There will be those who don’t vote on supposed principal as they feel their previous vote was ignored. They won’t get more attention by abstaining now.

And the notion that politicians are “all the same” is lazy thinking and demonstrably incorrect.

We should respect other people’s views, even if we think they are of the sheerest flapdoodle. But why respect people who can’t be bothered to have an opinion?

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The 2019 general election for Sunderland’s three constituencies might not be the usual foregone conclusion. Therefore the so-and-so always wins anyway argument is even less valid.

If you like things as they are - vote. If you don’t like it - vote.

Politics is everything and everywhere. If you can’t be bothered to vote; please do everyone else the courtesy of not complaining ... about anything.