The outrageous belittling of non-voters has been going unchecked for far too long.

Whose fault is it if a political party can’t behave in such a manner as to garner support for their belief system, especially in this day and age of savvy marketing and advertising? Maybe if these political divas concentrated more on the solving of problems and less on the character assassination of their peers the so-called lazy young people constantly accused of not caring would be able to muster up some legitimate respect. But no. Let’s just blame our children for having a lacklustre attitude towards engaging in the sorts of behaviours we encouraged them not to as toddlers.

Surely one has to wonder why the arena supposedly created for the day-to-day business of governing the country is more resembling of an out of control squabble at a boarding school dinner table. It can’t be an accident. And it isn’t. Democracy itself is the practice of marginalising your opposition at the same time as running your best damage control in an attempt to not get marginalised yourself. Its fundamental rule is that if you belong to the minority you’re doomed to suck up the bad news until the next opportunity for revenge arises and the pattern repeats itself. The contest of personalities is the only way to stop the repetition from looking completely monotonous.

How do we allow this appalling to and fro of slight and slander to be responsible for deciding the values by which we live our lives? By voting, that’s how. Every vote cast is a message to these outlandish performers of Roman spectacle that says “good job you lot, we definitely approve of this!”

So next time you’re about to get up on your high horse and go telling off some innocent youths for not caring enough, consider that the exact opposite could actually be what’s really going on. Maybe it’s YOU who doesn’t care enough. Maybe it’s lazy to be settling for whatever it is YOU’RE voting for.