The election campaign is in full swing now, with the parties unveiling their manifestoes last week. Even the Monster Raving Looney Party brought out theirs a couple of days ago. They deserve a few votes for sheer nerve. Hell, I’d vote for them if they had a candidate standing in my constituency. At least they’re different.

“The problem with people today is apathy,” I say, when someone asks me to explain why voter turnout is so low. I’m the same myself; in 2001, I voted for no-one, despite it being my first general election. In council/by-elections, I’ve not voted. What would be the point? I never knew anything about politics, nor anything about the people standing. They didn’t do much to get their point across to me, either. A poster saying “Vote Joe Bloggs!” doesn’t really provide much information, does it?

Of course it’s different with the general election. We know about Labour, and the Tories, and the Lib Dems, and possibly even some of the fringe parties. Except, you’re not really voting for them, are you? Your vote goes to the person you want to represent you in your local constituency. You should select the person you think will do the best job. I don’t know of anyone who actually votes this way though; they base their decision on the party manifestoes. I say manifestoes, I really mean the media. Opinions are formed by the newspapers and TV shows for a lot of people.

So in the end, it comes down to a choice between the parties, not the people. What’s the difference between them though? Party A says they’ll improve this, that and the other, whilst reducing taxes. Party B says Party A won’t improve this, that and the other, and their spending plan will reduce the country’s economy to ruin. Party B say they’d do a much better job, whilst Party A say the exact opposite. Party C sits there and says both Party A and Party B are wrong, but A & B just ignore C because he gate-crashed the party, and if they ignore him he might just go away.

The Liberal Democrats are doing their best to present themselves as the Real Alternative™. Good luck to them – at least they’re honest. “We want to spend more on the NHS, police, and schools. This will cost money of course, so we’ll raise taxes, but only on rich people, since they can afford it.” Oh dear, fatal error. Increase taxes? Tsk, don’t you know you’re supposed to lie about that part, and instead introduce stealth taxes! God forbid we elect a Government that tells us the truth.

So it comes down to a choice between A, B or C. If there’s one thing we all know, however, it’s that no matter who is in power, we’ll all continue much the same, we’ll be paying out more and more of our earnings, and we’ll all complain about this, that and the other.

“Apathy is on the rise!” I cry, but they just shrug their shoulders. Nobody cares.