Politicians? They're all the same

?

Give blood. Join a Trade Union. Vote.

My three civic responsibilities.

And next week, I have to do the last of the three. I'd rather give blood.

The difficulty is that the main political parties are now all so similar. He who pays the piper calls the tune and all political parties are increasingly beholden to big business to fund their expensive election campaigns. Add to that the influence of the media barons - big business again - and there is no way a party that doesn't base almost all of its policy on the predilections of a wealthy elite is going to win.

Democracy? Little more so than in Libya or Syria, in my view. It's just that, rather than being directly oppressed by our leaders using tanks and guns (though don't make the mistake of assuming they wouldn't if the need arose) we are persuaded to collude in our own oppression. Our system, where votes are simply bought through advertising and the media, gives the nice, soft, fuzzy illusion of a democratic process without the inconvenience of risking the election of any party that doesn't put the interests of the wealthy first.

I don't live in the same constituency as most Inverness Courier readers, though as IC readers are spread across the world, no doubt from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, I guess that doesn?t matter too much.

In the constituency where I cast my vote there are only four candidates on the first-past-the-post part of the election (the list section's easier; I'll vote Green and I've already decided to vote for the AV system, inadequate as it is).

You see, I'm a floating voter - always have been. And I've got less than a week to make my mind up.

I've never floated anywhere near the murky deep blue waters of the Conservatives. I find it difficult to imagine circumstances in which I ever could.

This may be where political parties get it wrong; they think you vote for them. In fact, my first priority is usually to vote against the Conservatives.

The Tories under David Cameron are every bit as odious as the Tories under Major or Thatcher. Their policies are still based on the tried and tested Robin-Hood-in-reverse philosophy of robbing the poor to give to the rich.

So that's one knocked off the list.

Of the other three, our Lib Dem candidate has much to commend him. He's intelligent, prepared to listen and is an astute political player in his current role as a councillor. Under other circumstances I might be prepared to overlook the fact that he's a former Tory and vote for him.

But these are not other circumstances. The Lib Dems nationally have committed the worst crime possible; they've put the Tories in power at a UK level. The Lib Dems argue that, without their moderating influence, the Tories would be running rampant, introducing a whole range of entirely unacceptable policies.

News flash - the Tories are running rampant. They are introducing a whole range of entirely unacceptable policies. The Lib Dems are helping them do it.

So, I'm down to SNP or Labour.

For me, the big political dividing line is the SNP's promised Council Tax Freeze. Now there's a Tory-style policy if ever I saw one. By and large, the better off you are, the more Council Tax you pay. So, generally speaking, it's the best off who will be laughing all the way to the bank. It's the poor who depend most heavily on council services; families on low income, the elderly and so on.

I had pretty well decided to vote Labour.

But then I Googled our Labour candidate. John Mackay, it turns out, is a nuclear enthusiast. He wants to see more nuclear power stations built.

Of course, Scottish Labour is somewhat split on this issue. Many of their candidates elsewhere wouldn't touch nuclear power with a bargepole. But it would be a disaster if one more vote in the pro-nuclear camp led to new nuclear power stations being built in Scotland.

And so it seems, the SNP is the least of four evils. At least they have a valid and viable energy policy.

But it's with a heavy heart I'll vote for them on Thursday.