If you had to teach politics to young children then what would you tell them? You might start with the present voting system. It may not be perfect - actually it isn't perfect but it is the method that we have of electing our representatives. The voting system does not reflect the voting intentions of the population as it isn't proportional but at least we have the opportunity to vote. Then I would tell the children how important it is to vote. If we didn't then we may lose democracy completely. Dictatorships have some benefits but there are no checks and balances and dictators can be bad too.
I would tell the children that should vote but if they don't like any of the candidates then they should spoil their vote in order to register their protest. Apathy is the easiest answer for those asking why people don't vote. However the children would need to know what each candidate stands for. I have been a political activist for many years and I occasionally meet supporters of other parties who don't want to know about the opposition. How can they know that their party is the best unless they know what the others are saying?
Today I received my UKIP leaflet for the European elections. They obviously have plenty of money to spend on their leaflets but a large part of it is in the form of a poster. The sub-heading reads 'No More Leaflets Thank You'. It is obviously their party policy that their supporters should not be informed. They are not a party that supports informed democracy. They are the anti-politics party which does no-one who believes in democracy any good.
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