parliamentary election … again

… what's the point.

Every fourth year we get to elect our Norwegian parliament. Or rather: we get to elect the political parties that elect who will be members of our parliament and who will govern our country. Should think we had better things to do, but here we go again.

This year the election will take place on 11th of September, and the political parties have, as usual, been campaigning by promoting themselves and talking down each other, for months already. Should think they had better things to do too.

As the “clover” image in the headline above indicates: I have my mind made up well ahead of election, and intend to cast a vote for the Centre Party when the day comes. Not much chance that I'll change my mind.

The reason is simple, as the Centre Party is the only larger party in Norway that, both historically and at present, stands for something of real value to all Norwegians – a rare phenomenon in Norwegian politics.

choices…

We have a large number of political parties here in Norway, but when we narrow it down by looking at what the various parties stand for, there aren't that many political directions to choose between. And, once they have worked out coalitions after an election and a government is formed, there usually isn't much left of what we elected any of them for anyway.

Last minute campaign utterings from various parties carry little to no value to me, as they tend to drown in the roar of historical facts, failures and lies from the same people and parties.

Based on experience we should long since have ditched the entire political system, but I'm not sure if a high enough number of rational people can gather around a better alternative in time to avoid total disaster. Thus, we may have to live a while longer with a system that really isn't working for us, simply to avoid something even worse.

why do I vote?

Well, as long as I can find at least one somewhat palatable and capable alternative on the political menu for today, I can not come up with a good enough reason not to cast my vote. It really is that simple, to me, and I neither can, nor will, speak for others on the matter.

So, unless I catch a cold or something, I'll be there on election day this year too. Only time will tell if it all was a total waste of time, or not quite as bad as one could expect.

(15.sep.2017) Election over, and it wasn't a total waste of time even if the overall result could have been a lot better.

sincerely georg; sign

Hageland 08.aug.2017
last rev: 08.dec.2017

the old house

The parliament building looks kind of OK on a distance.
Excellent stage for new episodes in the reality show we know as Norwegian Government.

I haven't been in that area for years, and going there isn't in my traveling plans for the foreseeable future.

winners and losers?

Ideally, an election should be about voting in the best individuals, in order to create the best governmental body possible.

Unfortunately, the system that has been forced upon us doesn't allow for that, as we (the people) cannot elect individuals – only parties. Thus, it is fair to say that the system is rigged to split us (the people) into winners and losers – mostly losers, as a means for the few to control the many in between these staged events we call “elections”.

We (the people) think we are giving our politicians mandates to serve our interests for a limited number of years. Nothing could be further from the truth.

In reality they (the politicians) take whatever mandate they choose to think they are given, to mean that they are elected to reign over us in ways that, above all, serve their very own interests – preferably for as long as they themselves like.

who are really in control?

You won't find those in control on the ballots on election day, only the ones they have chosen to present them for the time being.

It is all part of the game, and those in control would not want anyone to look them in the cards while the game is on – and the game never ends.

So by all means: cast your vote on election day, and be happy you did. It doesn't matter much anyway since you will never get to vote over anything that matters.

update notes…

Election over, votes counted, and result pretty much as expected.

Norwegian parliamentary election, 2017