We are being lied to

[sebastienne]

I feel very powerless today.

First I read Ben Goldacre's column about the proposed NHS reforms - "I'd expect this from UKIP or the Daily Mail, not from a government leaflet".

This reminded me of a post of Johann Hari's I read a few weeks ago, The Biggest Lie in British Politics (it's about the 'necessity' of cuts).

I found out that the government wants to scrap the Equality Act. They consider it to be red tape. (Please follow that link and tell them why they're wrong.)

And then, I got a No2AV flyer through my door. The level of mendacity it contains completely blows me away.

Let's start on the front page:

"Keep one person, one vote"

AV does not change this. It simply adds value to each individual's single vote.

"The AV system will mean an end to equal votes"

No, it won't. It will, however, mean an end to tactical voting, where people feel torn between voting for the candidate they most approve of, and voting for the candidate they least despise out of those they perceive as having a chance of winning.

"The cost of AV is £250million"

This figure includes the cost of the referendum (which is happening anyway) and the completely voting-style-irrelevant cost of switching to an electronic vote-counting system (which could happen, or not happen, however this referendum goes). The remaining cost is in fact £26 million (they're out by an order of magnitude), which is their estimate of the cost of explaining the system to voters.

"AV leads to broken promises"

No, seriously. An entire page of the leaflet hinges on the fact that Nick Clegg likes AV, and this makes a vote for AV an approval of his broken promises. And if the mendacity and nonsense of that doesn't gall you, try:

"The only vote that would count under AV would be Nick Clegg's"

This was about the point where I seriously started considering substance abuse as a solution.

Instead, I am making calls for the 'Yes to Fairer Votes' campaign (yes, I know, cold-calling people on a Saturday night. Despicable. But as I've already helped one man sort out a postal vote for his disabled partner, on balance I feel like this is still a force for good in the world.

It's not enough, though, of course, to make more than a teaspoon's difference to the sea of mendacity that's rolling over me right now.

I think I'm going to take a break and read some Transmetropolitan. Spider Jerusalem can manage substance abuse AND justice. That's why he's better than you.

Comments

[sharaz-jek.livejournal.com]

My god.

We're living in the future and this is the shit we're faced with?

[anotherusedpage.livejournal.com]

I glanced over a copy of the S*n on the tube on the way home today.

It has an explanation of why Ussein Bolt wouldn't have won the 100 meter sprint under AV.

I died a little. God, what the fuck are we up against.

[theviciouspixie.livejournal.com]

Christ on a bike. What a load of bollocks.

[parrot-knight.livejournal.com]

This is building on Cameron's nonsense about elections being like the Grand National last week. The Telegraph had a ludicrous leader about FPTP happily providing one-party governments which reflect the mood of the country; I can't think of one in my lifetime which has done so.

[sir-rosealot.livejournal.com]

I was going to make a very similar post about the No to AV leaflet. I also didn't like the tone of "you're an idiot so let me simplify this for you (misleadingly)" that dripped from the whole thing.

[otterylexa.livejournal.com]

Yes, this.

[widsidh.livejournal.com]

cynical note:
are we ever NOT lied to by politicians (and newspapers)?

as for feeling powerless:
at least took your chance to try and avert this in the general election, I was only allowed to look on in dismay...
(ditto for the referendum...)

[widsidh.livejournal.com]

PS...and leaflets...