Effect change: Vote!
Saturday 1st November 2008, 9:58AM GMT.
From Cliff Le Clercq.
THE situation described in Deputy Roy Le Hérissier’s letter (JEP, 23 October) cannot be allowed to continue if we are to have any kind of credibility or respectable future, and if we are to be taken seriously, and rebuild our tarnished reputation.
The adverse publicity affecting Jersey of late has focused the eyes of many worldwide. What does it say when one of our more credible and respected leaders is having to whistleblow the Council of Ministers? It simply means this ministerial system has not worked.
It is failed, flawed and dishonest and must be bought to book now and changed. Government reform is now urgent as is the passing of the Freedom of Information law.
It was hoped by many Islanders that the recent election would usher in new blood, But alas no. So was it fear of change or is the uncomfortable truth that not enough citizens were registered and turned out to vote? Many interviewed said no, I didn’t vote – too busy, can’t be bothered and the understandable but self-defeating notion “what’s the use, they don’t listen anyway, so why vote”.
I have a certain sympathy with this sentiment but here’s the catch: you are, you truly are, actually voting by abstaining and this secretive establishment has been relying on you doing exactly that.
So by not taking part you are playing right into their greedy hands and making a massive vote to be controlled by a rich clique who couldn’t care less about you, as they uncaringly crumple your future hopes and dreams in the wake of prefered grandiose schemes of their own. So you pay a fiver a gallon to run your car, crippling rents, or are manacled to a millstone mortgage and are generally bullied, ripped off and treated as mere tax fodder at every turn.
Where is the cure, the hope of change? Right under our noses, with every relative and workmate who can change it by voting for change. Out of 20 guys at a place of work recently only four had voted, yet all moaned about the outcome. Less than 40 per cent voted in St Helier.
Yet if colleagues, neighbours and everyone voted, what a change. If you can convince just two people you know to come with you and vote you would witness a social miracle.
For a start, a sense of community and belonging would return – the feeling that you, Joe Ordinary, changed it and now are a stakeholder in the place you live in, enjoying a true sense of having some say in your destiny, some steerage. That would be so uplifting and it is all within the grasp of every ordinary person to lift this depressing spectre.
It is really empowering to vote. Talk to everyone you can if you care. Urge them to make that small effort and watch amazing things happen. As Nelson Mandela said: ‘Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate, our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure’.
Come on, Jersey, you know you want to. Come out this time for the Deputies and make it happen.
Life Clinic,
26 Halkett Street,
St Helier.
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Yes, people would vote if there were people worth voting for. The recent results speak for themselves.
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Well done Cliff – spot on!
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There were people worth voting for.
Trouble was there were too many and that split the vote.
The only reason that Ozouf and Maclean in particular got in was because thay look after the rich of this island who turned out to vote for their pockets.
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I don’t think there were many new candidates worth a vote at all. You will never change things unless you put proper policies and proper presentations forward. If people cannot deliver they won’t get the major votes and like I said, the results of the last elections simply speak for themselves.
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Three minutes for a speech / presentation or 20 seconds to answer a question – hardly possible to explain a policy clearly. The only reason members of the GTS28 got in was because the vote was split and too many potential electors are happy to complain but can’t be bothered to vote. On the other hand, the supporters of the GST28 consistently vote. If you don’t come out and vote against them then you are voting for them.
All is not lost however – maybe the fact that members of the GST28 got back in will wake up some of the electorate – come on you good Jersey citizens, please come and do your civic duty on 26 November – the rest of us are relying on you!
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Does that not tell you something though? Voters do not just vote for people who get on a platform and tell us all the problems of the Island. They vote for the people who can give us some plausible answers to these problems. None of the new candidates were good enough to give solid answers to these problems just their personal thoughts about the problems.
Nobody gets votes like this. The speech argument is flawed. People had plenty to put on their manifestos.
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Nellie. The reason they got only 3 minutes was because of the number of inexperienced candidates standing without any meaningful policy and could offer our Island nothing constructive. Indeed the level of negativity shown by most of these “no hopers” was depressing and prevented those with more positive policies from getting their message across.
The position of Senator is traditionally that of a senior states member seeking an Island wide mandate to allow him or her to take a leading role in the assembly. As a democratic state it is right that everybody should be able to stand for such office. Unfortunately this right is abused by those who seek to use the Senatorial election solely as a platform to launch their campaign and seek publicity in the later deputies elections. Such action is in my opinion selfish and shows that the individual concerned is prepared to compromise our democratic process for their own individual gain. I entirely agree with your point and in the interests of protecting our democracy would urge voters to take note of such actions and place their cross accordingly in the forthcoming deputies elections. Maybe by doing so we can avoid the problem that you have highlighted in future elections.
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Lets not forget that if the votes of all the NON GST28 candidates were put together, they would eclipse those of the candidates who we are trying to rid ourselves of.
Most of the candidates were worthy, look at Jeremy Macon for instance. A very young candidate with some common sense ideas and approach that was presented with an articulate style.
If effective oppossition is to be put forward, we almost have to “mark” a candidate in a football style with another candidate in the same area of skills but with morality and values.
This means that the voters are presented with a clear choice and not a bewildering one.
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It was the young and the disenfranchised that got Obama elected. Disparate groups with little in common other than a pressing need for change. Put them all together and they actually formed a massive majority. I voted in Jersey this time though none of my chosen anti-establishment candidates got in – all good people with good ideas so I have no truck with this belief that only established politicians have answers for everything. That’s a very old old con indeed, and one that profits only the establishment as it discourages people with other view points from voting. What’s the point after all? Nothing’s going to change. It is very easy to get discouraged in Jersey, it has happened to all of us, but America has been an eye-opener for me. We can and must change things for the reasons that Cliff has outlined and many many more. It will be the huge local majority made up of the young and the disenfranchised that will change things here as well, but you HAVE TO GET OUT AND VOTE. Just keep saying ‘Yes we can’. It works.
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Well said Jersey Joe and Bruce.
The only reason we had 21 candidates was because the first lot to declare themselves were mostly members of the GST28 and as such unworthy of our votes.
It’s a shame we didn’t know about the many other good candidates before the nominations because of course it did split the vote and some probably would not have stood against like-minded candidates if we’d known about them prior to nomination night.
Running for Senator had nothing to do with publicising a campaign for Deputy – everyone honestly wanted to get elected as a Senator.
Great to see some of the new Senatorial candidates putting themselves forward again after the gruelling 14 speeches they had to give last time.
Good luck this time guys!
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Terry – which meaningful policies from experienced politicians are you referring to?
S Ferguson – GST is not a regressive tax – please give me a big voice in the States;
P Troy – I invented the “Troy rule” and I’m a member of Mensa;
P Ozouf – The Regulations and Undertaking Law is controlling immigration;
A Maclean – I’ve brought in low cost airines and sorted out the harbour (nb harbour dues up by 2.5%);
P Routier – Low Income Support is working very well and people are very happy with it.
I rest my case.
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It wasn’t the number of anti-establishment candidates that caused the problem but the lack of quality. Several were simply hoping for a pay rise when they would struggle to command £40K + in the real world and despite Nellie’s protestations were using all the publicity to go for a deputy seat. Now we can expect the voters of St Helier to put some of them into the States.
Bruce. Much as I enjoyed your rebellious call to arms, the US and Jersey are very different beasts. If you can come up with a smart charismatic candidate who can appeal to the wider audience, they would have a chance of being elected but clearly, having just sat through the senatorial elections, the search goes on.
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It makes me laugh that Cliff (and a lot of other unsuccessful candidates) assume that everyone that didn’t vote would automatically have voted for the so called ‘anti-establishment’ candidates.
There are six people that work in my office and I was the only one who voted. Before election night we discussed the merits of the candidates and four out of the five who didn’t vote identified Maclean, Ozouf, Ferguson and Routier as the best candidates, closely followed by Le Marquand. My other colleague had no opinion as they had no interest in or knowledge of any of the candidates.
Had I persuaded my colleagues to go out and vote there would have been four more votes for the winning candidates (in addition to mine) which kind of flies in the face of Cliff’s call to arms.
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Geno – I know quite a few charismatic local people who would make excellent, principled and energetic servants of the Jersey public but they all live in the UK or elsewhere as they all chose the famous ‘boat out in the morning’ rather than live here as wage slaves. There are to my mind a few younger people standing for Deputy that deserve a chance and who, with some experience under their belts, could make a real difference. I know spaniels that could make a better job of it than some of our current ‘politicians’ and we have to start somewhere. Yes we can.
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I am sorry but I did not think Jeremy Macon was remotely ready for such a senior position in office. This also went for many of the others that put themselves forward. People keep on saying the GST 28, but until people of a decent calibre come forward, or more people like Ian Le Marquand should I say, the establishment will always rule.
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Bruce. The difference between Obama and your friends is that he stayed and fought for what he believes in. If you find someone who is willing to do that, give me a shout and I will head up the Campaign Committee but please note, Obama didn’t get elected simply by complaining about everything. To be elected as a newcomer, you have to offer something that catches the public’s imagination and regrettably that certainly didn’t happen this time.
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One thing we could certainly learn from the US elections is the enthusiasm and energy displayed by the US youth. If the youngsters in the Island really want things to change in Jersey then they have a splendid opportunity on the 26th.
Apathy is the worst enemy of democracy.
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We need more people with proper experience of life coming forward for election. As for the young people, Ian Le Marquand could not have been any better for experience. Like I said in my earlier post, the only people that deserve a vote are the people who don’t just slag the Island off but come up with ideas on how to improve things. A lot of the candidates spent more time at the hustings attacking current ministers. If that is all whats on offer then I can only guess that the deputy results will be similar to the Senators’.
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