A General Election is taking place today 12th December. Some have argued that it is an election as decisive as that of 1945 or February 1974. We shall see on that but it matters that you do actually vote.
I’m far from an obsessive about Parliamentary elections of any kind, participation in democratic elections is important as a principle.
Its important because there is a hard right populist party in the field in the shape of the Brexit Party (which is actually a limited company not a Party) and the Tories are not too far removed from that agenda either. Even if you just cast a vote for any of the other parties it will make a point.
Its also important because the Chartists fought for the right to vote for men, not finally achieved until 1918, and the Suffragettes did the same for women, achieved in 1928.
In the 200th anniversary year of Peterloo its important to remember the sacrifices that people made to win the vote and its also important to remember that even today in the US Trump is making extensive efforts to prevent working people from voting now echoed to some extent by the Tories here.
So vote on 12th December. The fight to win you the vote in the first place means a lot and that means its worth exercising it.
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