Error 405 - Damn not Given

There's a few things the Maltese are passionate about - food, religion, politics, sport. Of these, religion and politics seem to be the reason for the most noise both in public and online. Party allegiance goes back generations, inherited down the familial line like nanna's armarjaru. A wise and adorably eccentric professor of mine once said that political science is not taught at our University because people who end up killing each other. Like Christianity, local politics has its own rituals, taboos and venerated individuals. Candidates will visit households in an attempt to win votes. Mentioning the opposing party's manifesto, even the good bits, would have you chastised or called names. Everyone has heard stories what the bad people on the other side have done in the past. Even those too young to remember [people about my age] grow up overhearing chilling tales of corruption, nepotism and other unpleasant social action. And yet, we meddlin' kids are not terribly bothered by which party parks its well-cushioned posterior in the seat of power. Take a look at the pitiful turnout recorded at the polls yesterday. Certainly, the freak storm was to blame but having asked around, I discovered that no one, not one of my friends had gone out to vote this time. I didn't vote this time round. I did however vote on the last referendum, that pesky one about divorce, as did all of my friends. Because in that case our vote would actually count; we were voting on one issue and the voting numbers would clearly reflect how many people agreed or didn't. Electing politicians adds a slippery intermediary to the whole thing.

Tinsiex ittini l-'one'

I have several theories [of course I do] about why the wayward youth* are just not into it. First is that for the average, 20-something person, politics is something of a mystery - I could not, even on pain of death, explain to you what the nuggets goes on in the halls of power. I have no idea why so many people are needed to preside over such a small country and I have absolutely no inclination to find out why. My own [possibly selfish] reasoning is that firstly, I have no faith in the representative qualities of the candidates we are meant to vote on. They don't care what I think, they've never asked me and it doesn't look like it is going to happen any time soon. Our country is run by middle-aged men, mostly professionals, mostly married with kids. What do they know or care what it's like in my world? I know I'm going to come under fire for this vein of thought and I already have but quite honestly, I feel that my vote, whichever way it would be cast, would be helping someone else, someone who has no idea what I need from my country, get a chauffeur and a parking space in Valletta. 

Note the distinct lack of 23-year-old Maltese bloggers with a
passion for dogs, books and novelty t-shirts

Next, given the fact that I travel frequently and plan on moving away from this little rock in the near future, it matters little to me who stays and who goes in the political arena. In other words, it is shortly going to become someone else's problem. I also know that many people my age think the same way. With our island firmly inside the EU door, working abroad is easier and many are taking advantage of that. Leave the die-hard Maltin to their own devices and head for the continent. Then take advantage of the cheap flights around election time to come back, enjoy a pastizz and be reminded in no uncertain terms exactly why you left. 

As a woman and a citizen on a democratic country, I understand that my right to vote is a privilege, one that countless activists before me risked everything to make sure I have. I understand, as I'm sure do most of my peers, that much good has come of political action in the past, good which we now take as standard. But as one of the unheard masses, a single grain of sand on the small beach of our community, I feel that the people behind the wheel have absolutely no interest in what I have to say. And as I am insignificant to them, so too, I must assume, is my single lowly vote. 

* Barring of course the youth divisions of each of the big political parties. Those are another unsettling kettle of fish altogether