Why I’m (still) voting for Jeremy Corbyn
Written in 2017
(And why I think that Theresa May is quite liberal…for a Tory. You see, a bit of balance!) Last one, and then I’ll go back to my default position of not posting on Facebook!
It’s not much of a secret, but I’ll be voting for Jeremy Corbyn in tomorrow’s General Election. In fact, I’ve already voted by post, because I’m in Lisbon now. So, no use trying to change my mind.
There are many reasons why, but the overriding fact (and real facts are so very hard to come by) is that I feel far more morally attuned to what he and Labour is trying to achieve than I do the Conservatives.
I would rather have someone who is genuinely trying to make the world a more peaceful place — and more peaceful will naturally mean more secure. Rather than the word ‘security’ being used in a highly aggressive way, in much the same way as ‘defence’ is. Which, when you think about it a bit, often means ‘attack’.
He also wants to improve education, help the NHS, build more houses and generally make things better for more people. And I believe that he genuinely wants to do this because he has been saying this for years. At rallies, conferences and town hall meetings.
Theresa May is not evil (such an unhelpful word, when you really think about it), in fact she’s quite liberal for a Tory. But a Tory she is, and is therefore beholden more to the Right than the Left, which means all of the things that we know that means. Profits before people, more money to the fat cats, more curtailing to newspaper owners that don’t pay tax because they support the Conservatives, more NHS cuts, more Mental Health cuts, more untruths about there being no money (there is, the banks were bailed out for billions and billions and most voted in favour) etc etc etc.
Also, Theresa May and the Conservatives have run a disastrous campaign. Strong and Stable was the mantra, and it has been absolutely the opposite. Losing such a massive lead (probably) has been catastrophic, so much so that Defence Secretary Michael Farron may have subtly thrown his hat in the ring to succeed May should we get a hung parliament. Because if that happens, Theresa May’s position will be untenable.
But the change in mood isn’t all May and her strategist’s fault. Because of election rules we are starting to see and hear more of Corbyn first hand. And people realise that the picture painted of him has, at best, been highly misleading. We expect this from the right-wing rags, but others (The Guardian for one) have been at it too. Let’s not try and deny that, there seems to be plenty of evidence to support this claim.
And right now, Britain and the world really doesn’t need Conservatism, or any more Right Wing Leadership. It needs something more inspiring, more liberal, more honest, and with greater integrity. We haven’t had this for a long time. Blair and New Labour quickly became Tory light and shifted everything to the right, which is a key reason why there was this huge amount of infighting when Corbyn became leader. You could argue that he was taking Labour back towards the left, and there were a lot of MPs entrenched in the party who didn’t like this one little bit.
Imagine what a signal having Jeremy Corbyn as leader will send to the likes of Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump.
And Corbyn being portrayed as weak and unable to hold his own in negotiations is utterly incorrect. They guy has been hammered by the opposition, the media, and by a large section of his own party…and he’s still standing. In fact, he’s may be in with a shout of being Prime Minister. That seems strong and resilient to me. Far more than Theresa May, who has been increasingly portrayed as weak and wobbly because of mistakes during the General Election campaign. Anyway, this idea that Brexit (still hate that term) will involve the British Prime Minister and Verhofstadt facing each other across a table is completely misleading. Watch an episode of Yes Minister, or The Thick of It if you want to get a better idea of how this all really works.
And the Coalition of Chaos idea is a bit disingenuous too, if you dig below the surface, all parties are a chaotic collection of unique characters with differing ideas, priorities and beliefs. The only reason some of them toe the line is that they are career politicians who want to climb the career ladder, and will try and do so by backing who they think is likely to be the Prime Minister for the longest period of time.
Oh, and the terrorism thing. Well, let’s take the IRA ceasefire for example. How was that achieved? By talking and negotiating. And for that to happen you need to meet with people. And some of those people might have done very bad things. Don’t believe what The Daily Mail, Express and Sun tell you, or watch the videos on their websites that have been edited a bit. Find the full interview, or speech on You Tube and listen. Incidentally, Britain was a far more dangerous place to live in when the IRA where fully active, and yet we are led to believe that now things are much worse. Yes, recent events have been horrendous, but also highly unusual. And quite likely that they have happened to try and disrupt or have some other sort of impact on the General Election.
Jeremy Corbyn isn’t perfect, no politician is, but I believe that he genuinely wants to make Britain and the world a better place for more people. I don’t agree with all his polices or approaches, but that is why we have a democracy and a Parliament and a House of Lords. To put the brakes on, to debate, to consider. But I would really like to see what will happen with a more Liberal leader for a while. How bad could it really get? If he does turn out to be a terrorist sympathiser, Trotskyist nut case then there would quickly be outcry and a vote of no confidence. But I really don’t think that will happen. I think most of us will be pleasantly surprised, and the envy of much of the Western World.
PS — I trust Noam Chomsky and Bernie Sanders, and they support Corbyn too.
PPS — whatever you do, make sure you vote. Not voting is pretty awful. You do have the right to have your say, and it does matter.
