Monday 11 June 2007

The vote motive

David Steel (not that one, I presume) is concerned about government waste:
There has been a furious reaction to the £2 million publicity campaign by the Scottish Executive in a bid to persuade people to use their votes.

It appears money has been squandered on such luxuries as 43,000 pens at a cost of £28,516, which is 66p per pen, and 33,000 Post-it pads for £19,216, or 58p per pad

The commenters on the Scotsman website don't think too much of Mr Steel's complaint. I'd like to address another angle.

What's really interesting is why politicians are so desperate to get us to vote. I mean, if you're interested it's not that difficult to go along to the polling station or even to get a postal vote.

The explanation is surely that politicians are scared stiff that no one might turn up on election day. The state relies on what Ayn Rand called the "sanction of the victim". The moment enough of us realise that almost all government activity is not only unnecessary, but also a wicked rip-off, then the days of politicians will be numbered.

1 comment:

David Farrer said...

Comments made on previous template:

Ewan Watt
It would also be interesting to see where the Executive spent the most money 'encouraging' the electorate to go out and vote, no?

12 June 2007, 22:33:47 GMT+01:00
– Like – Reply





MCLA
My company recently conducted an "Employee Perception Survey". The employees had much to complain about but just about 30% of them filled in the survey. The management surely saw this apathy as a sign that employees had lost all trust on surveys and outcomes. So they tried to legitimise the survey by asking each team-leader to force his subordinates to fill in the survey. 
 
Now, with the "sanction of the victims", they have come out with cooked survey results. Apparently employees are happy with their salaries. They want piped music in the company cafeteria. 
 
Cheers! 
MCLA

12 June 2007, 05:39:17 GMT+01:00