Vote Vote Vote – Oscar Milde

We voted half the last lot out
and voted all the new lot in.
We thought that when we’d had our shout
there’d be an end to lies and spin
but here we are and nothing’s changed:
someone who votes must be deranged.

It’s one thing voting on the phone
for Strictly dancers week by week
or jungle celebs, who just moan
because we know they’re past their peak.
Those are honest competitions.
What fool would vote for politicians?

Their manifestos, every time,
are works of fiction woven through
with fancy promises, sublime,
where not a single word is true
and yet we trust them, offer votes
instead of fingers round their throats.

So what’s the plan, a coup d’etat?
Cheer a dictator and his crew?
You might as well elect a cat
or move away to Timbuktu.
There’s always leaders and the led
but true democracy is dead.

Injustice is a fact of life
as much as inequality.
It’s them and us. In peace or strife
there’s no escape from polity
or politicians, sad to say,
until they carry you away.

Oscar Milde