Electile Dysfunction – Why I’m Voting IN

I wasn’t going to post anything about the embarrassing spectacle that the nation of my birth is subjecting us all to Today.

I really wasn’t, honestly.

I feel neither qualified or confident enough in my debating skills to argue my points in most political discussions but the tension in the democrasphere seems to have roused a yearning in me to get my opinion out there and visible to the rest of the world.

Today marks the end of a propaganda roller coaster ride and the beginning of the next stage of whichever dystopian future my fellow Britons democratically decide to send us down.

We’ve seen dirty tricks on both sides of the debate, misrepresentation of the “facts” on both sides of the debate and actual thug-life violence on one side of the debate.

Godwin’s Law was brought out early by Bremainers and cries of “scaremongering” from the Brexiteers throughout.

I’ve heard arguments both reasoned and irrational for both sides and none of them – not a single one – has changed my mind as to how I should vote in this ill-conceived referendum.

I’m IN.

Simple as that… IN.  No halfway houses, no brave new world in a Kingdom that is United outside of Europe.

But why?

Well that’s an easy one to answer. It feels to me to be the right thing to do.

Like offering to help an old lady get on the bus or holding a door open for people behind you. Voting to remain a contributing member of the European Union feels to me to be the right option.

Because of this stance I’ve been accused by some Brexiteers of being:

• A socialist.
• A communist.
• Stupid.
• Loony Lefty Liberal.
• Irresponsible.
• Destructive to the nation.
• Unpatriotic.

Sticks’n’stones and all that… none of that changes the way I feel.

I believe that voting IN is the right thing to do.

So there you have it.  No partisan rhetoric; no arguments for or against immigration/economic decline/war/terrorism.  Just a good old gut feeling based on personal ethics and the way I was brought up, to care for the people around me.

Don’t get me wrong.  I don’t think that people voting OUT are uncaring or somehow ethically/morally inferior to me.  I have done what I think the majority of those registered to vote in the UK will do and vote with their gut/heart/emotions rather than analysis of cold hard facts.

That’s why I empathise with Richard Dawkins’ sentiments (sweet Eris forgive me).  We should have never been offered this referendum in the first place.

The reason we elect a government in the first place is to ensure that democratically elected individuals make this kind of decision for us.  Individuals that I would hope actually understand the repercussions of such a decision.

As it is, we have the option to vote and therefore I feel we should.

If you are in any way undecided how you should vote, either through a lack of information or confusion of what feels “right” to you, then I would encourage you to consider yourself “undecided”.

As an “undecided” voter, you can buy yourself more time by voting IN.  A vote to remain keeps us on the track we are already on.  A vote to leave, or not voting at all, potentially puts us on a new track with no guarantee of putting us back on this track later on.

The last time this vote was put to us was the year of my birth, 1975.  It is entirely feasible that we’ll be asked to vote, on this issue, again within our lifetimes.