What has encouraged me today is the number of reporters who have emphasised that we are voting for a local MP not a national Prime Minister. It is hard to remember that with the cult of personality seeming to overtake the need for us to scrutinise the person who will represent me where I live. The expenses scandal has at least put the spotlight back on to individual MP's and I hope, and pray, that we will all have learnt a lesson - check out the people standing in your constituency, question them about their values and the policies they support and vote for the person who matches your beliefs (or as near as you can get). That's democracy. Then we will have taken part in the process as we should do rather than being swayed by the national scene and the party machines, wordsmiths and clever spin doctors.
I've come across a really interesting website - www.votematch.org.uk You get to respond to 25 policy statements and at the end you can see which party most closely matches what you believe. It's a great starting point to then delve a bit deeper with the individual candidates. If you're interested in how your existing MP has voted on key policy decisions you can go to www.theyworkforyou.com
I'm challenged at this election to take great care with my vote and not just to vote for the party or person I've always voted for. I am going to dig deeper and try to see the person behind the label because I'm reminded of something God said quite a few years ago:
'Do not consider his appearance or his height. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.' (1 Samuel 16:7)
That seems a better way of voting. That way we'll get the person we deserve.
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