I Mean It, Get Out The Fucking Vote #yes2av

So the polls are showing the Yes campaign massively behind the No campaign. I’m already seeing people all over the place criticising aspects of the way the campaign’s been run, like they’ve decided we’ve lost.

We haven’t.

There are two very, very important points to be made here. The first is that polls are usually more accurate *before* an election campaign starts than during. Do you remember ‘Cleggmania’ last year? It evaporated – and the election came out almost exactly as anyone would have predicted in March.

The second is that it’s going to be down to who can get the vote out on the day. Most people don’t care about this referendum one way or another. THEY ARE WRONG NOT TO CARE – this is literally the most important decision they will ever make, and will affect everything from crime policies, to immigration policies, to tax levels, to how healthcare is run, for decades to come. But we’re looking at something like a 30% turnout. YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE. The No campaign have no real volunteers. They’re reliant on Tory activists and a few of the more moronic Labour people who can’t tell when they’re being used to entrench the Tories in power for another century. They’re winning the air war because they have money and we don’t, but we have volunteers. We need more though.

And this doesn’t even just affect the UK. I have seen two Canadian friends (Plok who comments here regularly and the comics blogger David Uzumeri) beg British people on Twitter to vote Yes, because then the Canadians will take notice and might be able to avoid ludicrous results like the one they just had.

The No campaign DO NOT DESERVE TO WIN. There have been faults with the Yes campaign, and whether we win or lose you can expect to see them gone over ad nauseam. But the No campaign has been built entirely on lies. The No campaign are liars, and they are lying to you in order to keep control over you. The one time I’ve met any No campaigners in real life (three local Tories who turned up for half an hour to do a spoiler stall near ours, before giving up), they joked about all the lies in their leaflets.

Understand this – the decision you make on Thursday will determine the make-up of the government for the next century or more. Do you want another century of the broad liberal-left being split between two, three or more parties, and the Tories winning two thirds of elections while getting around a third of the vote? Of ‘elected’ dictatorships with unshiftable majorities destroying industries or taking us into illegal wars when only 30% of people voted for that party? Because that’s what a No vote will mean. It’s what not bothering to vote will mean. It’s what not getting everyone you know out and voting yes will mean.

VOLUNTEER, NOW! Here’s a list of events in your area. Here are the phonebanks you can help out at. If you don’t do this, you forfeit your right ever to complain again that the government you got isn’t the one you voted for.

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5 Responses to I Mean It, Get Out The Fucking Vote #yes2av

  1. Prankster says:

    Sigh…you had to remind me.

    I did find Rilstone’s posts useful in swaying a number of Canadians towards proportional representation, but it’s not a hot issue right now, sadly. And It’s unlikely that the conservatives will make it so, obviously.

  2. Very well said – and I especially like the last line about people forfeiting their right to complain ever again if they don’t help. :-) Something pretty much along those lines has been motivating me all along – basically the knowledge that I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t do everything in my power to win this. I really hope we can carry the day, and am trying not to let the polls make me too despondent and become a foregone conclusion. But even if we don’t, at least I’ll know it wasn’t because I didn’t bother to try. That will make a big difference.

    • Andrew Hickey says:

      Absolutely. But I keep feeling a bit like Oskar Schindler at the end of Schindler’s List (which I know is a tasteless comparison, but still). “I could have done more! I could have delivered one more leaflet…”

  3. Jim says:

    I assume the ‘get out the vote’ bit doesn’t apply to me? ;-)

    Good luck with the campaigning etc. Andrew, I hope it works out for you.

    • Andrew Hickey says:

      Given your customary tact and persuasiveness, you’d probably do a rather good job of getting out the vote ;)
      Ta. See you Monday.

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