You don’t have to spend long slumming it in the comments-section before you run into complaints about how useless our political parties are, and how they have steered Britain onto the rocks. Or plan to.
And they’re right. Conservatives haven’t conserved; Labour disses the workers; the LibDems traduce both elements of their name.
The SDP knows their indifference, and rejects it. Word about the party is getting out, but there’s a supply problem. Which is why you read variations of this complaint: ‘The SDP seem to have the right ideas, but there’s no SDP candidate for me to vote for.’
If that’s how you feel you should consider taking courage in both hands and putting yourself forward as an SDP candidate in the next election. There are many thousands of people looking for a good reason to vote - let that reason be you. Giving them a choice, a social democratic option, is a genuinely unselfish, altruistic and patriotic thing to do.
I think I can guarantee you a few things. First, you don’t need to worry too much about actually ending up in Parliament. Second, you’ll discover loads of good stuff about your neighbours and a little about yourself too. Third, standing for the SDP you’ll make loads of new friends, and you’ll lose none. Fourth, your sense of humour will become markedly more self-deprecating - how could it not?
Is it a waste of time? Is hope invested in the SDP wasted? No, because the key word is ‘invested’. You aren’t spending your vote when it goes to the SDP, it’s an investment in your future. Campaigning as a candidate for the SDP is a big down-payment on that future.
There’s no better time than now, because the next general election will be a step-change for the SDP. The party intends to field a full range of 100+ candidates across the nation for the first time. A thundering herd. We’ll train and go toe-to-toe with the big boys for the first time in decades, and use the national stage to force them to justify their useless lousy performance. Yes, they’ll outspend us, and probably out-organize us, but when the votes are in, they’ll know, finally, that someone’s coming for them.
You’re too young? Well, it’s your future, girl, who do you want to fashion it? You’re from the wrong side of the tracks? Good, it’s about time someone challenged the middle-class political stitch up. You run a business, work for the union? We need your experience and drive. You didn’t go to Oxford to study PPE? Raise a glass to that.
OK, so actually you’re a middle-class middle-aged white heterosexual who read PPE at Oxford? Hey, embrace me, brother!
It could be you: you could be the person giving other people a chance to reject the incompetence, indifference and complacency of our political class. That’s something worth doing.
So think about it. And then: join the party (if you haven’t already) and contact your regional branch for the Prospective Parliamentary Candidate Application Form. You won’t regret it.