On not voting

In July it will be 40 years since I arrived on the shores of Great Britain intending to live here for a year or two.  The war in Vietnam was raging and the involvement of the US meant that my new British husband would soon be called for a US Army physical and possible call up.  As this was not a possibility either of us was willing to entertain, we returned to the homeland of his birth and waited for the war to end, so we could return to my home.

Now, 40 years on, I am still here and still a US citizen and not British.  Periodically I contemplate the idea of becoming a subject of Her Majesty and then I remember the cost - a minimum of £800+.  Is it worth £800 to be British?  This is a complicated question.  What else could I do with £800? Go on holiday, buy a new computer (almost), have two or three injections of Botox in my permanently frowning forehead? Actually, that is not the right question to be asking myself.  The real question is what would I get for my £800?

At this time in the UK what I would get would be the right to vote in next week's national elections.  I am a political animal.  I stop and chat to the canvassers who stand on my local High Street trying to entice the undecideds with their promises of lower taxes, better schools, continuing health services and other wonderful ideas.  I read the polls, watch the debates and speak of British politics as 'mine'.  And yet, I cannot vote.

I find the enforced silencing of my vote a bit hard to take.  In my heart of hearts I know that my vote will make little difference and the lack of integrity of most political parties means no  vote makes much difference, it's just that it goes strongly against my upbringing.  When I was 15 I was out in the streets campaigning for a Civilian Police Review Board, and when I was 16 I was campaigning for local liberal left-wing politicians.  I always felt it was my responsibility to take a position and then to use public forums to make that position clear to others.

And no, I cannot vote in this election.  I could probably get away with having my name put on the electoral register in London but that would be cheating and illegal.  I watch the TV commentary and frustratingly know that I do not have a franchised voice here.  Does it matter?  I guess not if I live by my principles and do what I can to change my small world.

What would I change and where would I begin? I could give the standard Miss World reply, "I would wish for world peace", but I am not that naive and realise that as long as there is an industry dedicated to war and armaments and professional diplomacy, then peace is not an option the global business world genuinely wants.  I think I could usefully hope for a lessening of prejudice and fear within myself and then if that worked, rippling that out to those around  me. 

I was thinking about how much the make upof my everyday world has changed in the past 40 years. Forty years ago I did not even know about so many of the religions and cultures that are now commonplace in my life.  Growing up in the insular, protected world of my childhood I learned to fear difference and not to seek it out.  I never knew how much richer my world would become when I moved to the UK and how much I would learn about and from all the different nations living side by side here. This mixing of peoples and customs and religions is a strength of this country and the political debate now about immigration, fear and suspicion is not so very different to the pre-WWII propoganda I saw in the museums in Berlin.  It would be so tragic to lose this acceptance and welcome of others to the political ambition of the party leaders next week in the elections.

So, I still won't be voting.  I can try and influence my husband, who does have a vote, but in the end he votes his own way.  I could try and convince the polling station officials that I am really my own son and use his voting registration card, but I doubt that will work.  It is too late to add British to my nationality, but maybe by the time the next election comes round I will.  I really hate this not voting. 

Maybe what I get for my £800 is the right to vote - when you think of how many people in the world today would die for the chance to vote in democratic elections, it really is a tiny price to pay. Actually, it's quite a bargain!