Bruce Bisset: We've swapped nanny for bully

Seems to me if there's one thing the shenanigans of the current government highlight, it's that democracy as we've known it is in crisis.

And in large part I put that down to the woefully mistaken idea people have that nothing they can do will make a difference.

See, fewer and fewer folk these days bother to get involved in politics - or even vote. And when you ask why not, invariably the reply is it's a waste of time because it'll be more of the same.

Well, if no one stands or votes, then certainly nothing will change.

Even on a local level, where representatives are easy to meet face-to-face and their actions have obvious and immediate impact, voters seem to walk around in a fog of disinterest which thins only slightly every three years.

Just long enough to decide whether to vote and if so, for whom. With little more thought about those choices than whether they "know" a candidate (having perhaps seen their face or read a pamphlet) or their party affiliations, and so on meagre information and little expectation vote them in.

Essentially, that's how we wound up with the rogue lot now in power: a smiley face fronting a bunch of sycophants without a scruple managed to charm enough people into thinking change alone was sufficient reason to elect them.

But having swapped nanny for bully one might imagine a few of those suckers are having second thoughts about the promised "brighter future". Though the polls surprisingly indicate otherwise.

While that may prove change is not always good, throwing away opportunity to change for the better is to deny the chance.

The poor, in this case, must shoulder a share of blame. As much as they are increasingly disenfranchised by the deliberate disinterest of government, giving up on a system which treats all votes equally loses sight of the fact their votes are the only chance they have, short of winning Lotto, to enable a better life.

Which is what I can't understand: why opt out of the only choice you're given?

The other group to evince almost total disinterest in politics are the young. Or rather, they seem to imagine that answering surveys or voicing opinions on social media somehow counts for something. Here's the news: it doesn't.

The only opinion that matters, either community-wide or country-wide, is your tick on a ballot paper come elections.

Oh, sure, I'm not discounting the influence protest and referenda and mass-petitioning can have but the bottom line is, unless you actively elect who you wish to govern you, you forfeit the only right you have that guarantees your view counts.

Having grown up in the highly-politicised era of the '60s and '70s, I'm incredulous at the attitudes of today's non-voters. I've heard and written about all the excuses, from dumbing-down propaganda to technological entrapment, but frankly being too busy tweeting or too apathetic to be bothered to lift a finger to vote is not an excuse. It's simple stupidity.

And I refuse to believe one-third of my countrymen are so numbed to the inevitability of the coming techno-plutocracy that they will not register or vote to try to save themselves.

Even when it's the only chance they have.

So for your own sake, as well as society's, save democracy by registering to vote before August 16 - and when the election rolls round, use your vote for those you think could make a difference.

It might just change your life.

That's the right of it.

Bruce Bisset is a freelance writer and poet.