I’ve thought long and hard about my vote this Thursday, and
who it will go to.
I know ultimately it doesn’t matter, it will make no
difference to the result (It will be close but it ain’t going to be THAT
close!), but still, I want to feel like I’m making the right choice that I’m
comfortable with.
When we first knew for sure that a referendum was coming, I
was genuinely 50/50, completely open to persuasion from the best argument. I
had no preconceptions about which way I would vote.
So over the last couple of years, but mainly the last few
weeks as the campaign has really ramped up, I’ve found myself influenced by 3
different areas.
First, and foremost, the policies and predictions (aka complete guesses) of each camp. Surprisingly,
I’ve found this has actually influenced me the least. I really believe that, no
matter what the result on Friday morning, we’ll be fine. If we stay, we’ll
continue to get the benefits that come with being in the EU, and we’ll continue
to complain and fight to protect ourselves from the parts we don’t like. If we
vote to leave, again, we’ll be fine. We’ll make new trade agreements, countries
will still want to trade with us. We’ll be able to ditch some of those head
scratching rules and regulations that seem to have no purpose other than keep a
Brussels bureaucrat in champagne.
Policies and predictions = Honourable draw.
Secondly, the politicians on either side. What’s become more
and more apparent during the debates is that we, the public, have pretty much
no chance of making a genuine informed decision. Both sides appear to be just
making it up as they go along, each claim seemingly more fanciful,
scaremongering and unlikely than the last. I think it’s nonsense to suggest
that someone who favours “leave” is automatically a Farage sympathiser. There’s
no reason for him to exist in public office after Thursday in any capacity, as
he’ll either get his wish and soon have to retreat back under his rock due to
public demand, or his wish will be denied for at least the vast majority of the
remainder of his life. I hope that whatever happens Cameron is given the chance
to guide us through the remainder of this government’s term. I think Boris
genuinely does want out, but is of course using this campaign to further his
own ambitions. I like him as a daft buffoon, but please let’s not have him hold
any position of real responsibility.
Politicians = Dishonourable draw.
Thirdly, just the general conduct, opinions, and reaction of
the general public and various public figures whose opinions I regularly see on
social media and in conversation.
Well, here’s the big one, and the thing that has influenced
my decision more than anything else. Now, maybe my view here has been skewed by
the fact that through various methods of filtering, I’ve managed to eradicate
most traces of anything either extreme right or left wing from my timelines.
So, I see very little of the Farage approved xenophobic immigrant bashing that’s
rife on the internet, and I also get to see very little of the other side, the
well meaning but utterly unworkable left wing attitudes that during my life
time have had their occasional moments in power, only to cripple the country
and require the Tory’s to come back in to power with difficult and unpopular decisions
to clear up the mess.
So what I’m left with is mainly a group of centre (ish)
ground people of usually fairly sound opinion. People I generally respect.
These are the people who have been influencing me the most of the last few
weeks and months. These are the people who haven’t, in any way, pulled me
towards the Brexit camp (yes, I know, I was doing so well, but I’ve finally
used that word), but have continually, often forcefully, and now absolutely
finally, pushed me away from a “remain” vote.
At those times during the campaign when I was leaning
towards a “remain” vote, I felt that any arguments against my stance coming
from the other side were directed at the policies I was favouring, not me
personally, but whenever I’ve leaned towards a “leave” vote, I feel like I’ve
been verbally bullied, belittled, thought of as racist without anyone actually
coming out and saying as much, and generally being told I personally am
inferior or lacking in morals for having that view point, and I don’t take that
kind of attitude towards me lightly.
So that’s why I’m voting to leave on Thursday. Not because I
think leave is necessarily a much better option than remain (like I said earlier,
I think we’ll be fine either way, pros and cons to each decision). It’s not
because of politicians on either side pulling me towards or pushing me away
from their point of view, as I happen to think both sides are full of idiots
who’ve fed us nothing but lies.
No, it all comes down to the arrogance, and holier than thou
attitude of the general public “remainers”. They haven’t made a morally better
decision than I have, they don’t have access to any more facts than I have, they’ve
just made a different decision to the “leavers”. I don’t claim their decision
to be better or worse than mine, just different. I don’t feel that opinion is
reciprocated, and that’s why I can’t vote the same way as them.
I have absolutely no intention of trying to convince anyone
that they should vote the same way I’m doing, you all make your own choices, it’s
nothing to do with me. No one, quite rightly, is going to make a decision on
something like this based on anything I say. The only opinion I’ve ever given
anyone on this referendum is that they should USE their vote to have their say,
never HOW they should use it.
Whatever happens, come Friday morning I’ll not be getting
upset about the vote whichever way it goes, I’ll happily accept it with my only
real hope being that those in charge respect the wishes of the people and do
their best to make our choice work for the good of the British people.
