Hmmm, no, in a word, but I appreciate you trying.
I'm thinking things through as I write this post, so apologies if it doesn't 'flow' too well, it's just my verbal diarrhea coming out.
You and I agree on some points. The thought of five more years of Gordon Brown makes me depressed. IMHO he's not the right person to lead the party. I'm not sure who is, but there most definitely needs to be a change.
That's the main reason why I'm still 'on the fence'. We also agree that spending needs to be reigned in, before national debt becomes even more out of control.
Ideally, maybe I should step back and look at the bigger picture, but I can't do that. Too many local issues and my personal circumstances are making that impossible for me to do.
You're hoping to appeal to me on a personal level regarding tax increases, but actually, now that I'm working part time, no one in my family is likely to earn more than 20 grand anyway, so it's unlikely that we would be affected. I suppose that means that we're now a 'low income' family for the first time since we've been married, so perhaps that's why my outlook has changed. We're not on Income Support or anything of that nature, but our child tax credits, for instance, are now much more important to us than they used to be.
The Conservatives seem to me to contradict themselves more than any other significant party (Plaid Cymru excepted). For instance, the headline on their campaign leaflet for South Dorset - "Dignity and Respect for the Elderly". Yes, I agree with some of their policies. The one-off 'insurance' payment that they propose people make at the age of 65, to cover their fees in case they need to move into residential care, is a great idea. However, they have chosen the issue of care for the elderly as a campaign priority, and pushed their campaign leaflet through every door in a town where the current major issue is the
closure of a large care home - and the decision to close it has been taken by a Conservative council. The area has already seen the closure of three care homes in the past five years, leaving us with only one, for which there is a huge waiting list.
Another area of contradiction is that they pledge to keep the Sure Start Centres open (for use by families with young children). Yay! Great news for parents. However, if you dig a bit deeper, you find that it's not that simple. What they don't mention on their campaign leaflet is that they plan to introduce charges to use them for the first time. This somewhat goes against David Cameron's claims about open and honest politics. In fact, the more I look into it, the more I can't help but think that most people with children would be
worse off under a Tory government. They give tax benefits to married couples with one hand, then take them away by cutting child tax credits and trust funds with the other - it's just shallow rhetoric, and as with all Parties, they're careful only to mention the good bits! Promises of tax cuts win over voters, but do they make sense in the long run, when the country is so deep in debt?
In Dorset, the Torys are also responsible for causing a huge fiasco with our schools. To outline it briefly, they want to scrap Middle Schools and move to a two-tier system. Fair enough, but the way they want to do this in my area is by scrapping an OFSTED 'excellent' rated school and expanding a 'satisfactory' school. Why? Because the satisfactory school is C of E and partly funded by the Church. This means that we will have
no non-faith schools, and that the school are entitled to lay off any teachers who are not practicing Christians. It also means that children will have to make a twenty mile round trip to school every day from the age of eleven.
I can't discuss Tory policies without mentioning fox hunting, which will come as no surprise! I know that in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't seem like a big deal, but it is important to me. The Torys have stated that they wish the ban to be reversed, and I find that abhorrent. If that were the
only thing standing in my way of voting for them, then I'd overcome it and go ahead. But alongside all the other doubts I have, it only serves to strengthen my doubts.
I've just touched the surface of why I don't think I can vote for them there - and I haven't even got around to mentioning Anne Widdecombe, Boris Johnson, William Hague and John Redwood! What a truly revolting collection of people, and all Torys. I just don't think I can do it. At the end of the day, I come from a working class background, went to State schools, and every working member of my family except myself is in a 'blue collar' job. I can't help but equate the Torys with a widening of the gap between rich and poor.
Historically, I'm a Lib Dem voter, as are my parents. However, as explained in my last post, I don't feel that they're an option for me. Local issues aside, since Nick Clegg took the helm, the party seems to have moved further Right. Many of their policies are in line with the Conservatives, and on top of that, there seems to be a lot of infighting within the party. Why oh why did they stab Charles Kennedy in the back? IMHO, they lost their best chance when they did that.
So it's the lesser of two evils for me - I have to choose between the Conservatives and Labour. I could probably come out with almost as many reasons why I feel doubtful about Labour too, so my mind is still far from made up.
Blimey, this has turned into an essay! Your post was succinct and looked at the wider picture, BS. Mine has looked at details and waffled on forever.
Most likely, that reflects the different ways in which we're looking at this election?!