Out in front

>> Believe it or not, this is the quick version cos I just accidentally lost the much longer rant I had been typing for the last 20 minutes. :(

I watched most of the "historic" tv election debate tonight, and Nick Clegg made the most sense to me. He was straight-forward, open, unpatronising etc. It seems that I'm not alone. The post-debate polls and pundits suggest that the majority of viewers agreed with me too, and quite concisively. I can't help feel a little optimistic for a few minutes. But then the reality hits home...

No doubt, tomorrow and in the following days, more pundits will reel out the usual heap of sh*t about "the lib dems can never win", despite what the viewers were saying. They'll think of all kinds of reasons and reinforce the tired old myth, and all those other people out there who felt that little bit of optimisim will think "well, maybe they're right."

For crying out loud! Stop letting the manipulating newspaper and tv pundits, "major party" politicians, and big-business big-wigs do your thinking for you. Just ignore them! Read up a little more on the policies the parties are putting forward in their manifestos, and then decide on how much of those they are likely to honour. You must vote for the party that makes the most sense to you, instead voting for your second favourite just to keep your least favourite out.

I hear time and time again that "Lib Dems can get away with saying <xyz> because they know they can't win". This is utter, utter bullsh*t. They only can't win because you keep telling people they can't win. If they put these policies forward and people like them, and vote for them based on those policies, then they have a mandate to put those policies in place. That's the whole point of democracy, right?