Alone Again, Naturally...

My country has just ended it's latest round of elections,
a round in which the party that had the the most empathy
with the underdog, and those with the least in society,
made the biggest losses any party of recent times could make.

Where the voting system was 'first the pass the post',
a system in which the candidate with most votes
wins once and for always, they lost the most.
The only reason that other candidates ran
was to become also-rans who would have
been better off doing anything but standing. 

For all I think about how to share out
the good things in life in a way that seems fair
I have clearly have been slow to learn
about how well the politics of selfishness
are packaged and sold to an electorate
that cannot resist the deceptions
of the advertising that conceals
the impulse that it wants people to act upon.

But what do I know? In the 40 odd years
of my being entitled to vote
I have been voting for the party,
and argument, that has lost that often
that they seem to exist to get spoken over.

In the 11 national elections
and over 20 elections for local government
I have had the luxury of helping choose
the opposition that I wish to keep standing
whilst they never gain office.

All I can say about voting for the losers
is 'Somebody has to do it, to keep then standing
and for the winners to win in elections
where the illusion of choice matters,
for there to be the appearance of open competition.