Frodo and the One Vote
Voting season is upon us (in case you missed it). And with each party vying for our vote, it is sometimes hard to know how to vote, or why we should vote at all - certainly the feeling of apathy towards the political system has grown over the last few years. If (or once) we have come to the decision that voting is the right thing to do (or not, as the case may well be - in which case the rest of this post may be a waste of your time), we must decide who to vote for, and why. Recently, several very helpful websites have come to light to help us with this decision, and I have come across two, both of which I have found to be very helpful (vInspired.com and voteforpolicies.org.uk), and I would recommend both very highly. But let’s begin by delving into how and why people vote in general. The Power of the Ring Talking to friends and family recently, and paying a reasonable amount of attention to the media in the build-up to the election, it seems that there is an obvious way in which most people vote, and this is for the party which will most benefit themselves, or which will make their lives more comfortable. This seems obvious, but is important to state, as it gives us a solid starting point. To generalise, we vote to make ourselves happy, comfortable and wealthy. This way of voting, and living our lives, comes naturally to us in the West, but it is not the case throughout the world. Eastern thinking is much more communalist (not communist), whereby people act for the ‘greater good of the people’, and this is likely to be reflected not only in their lives, but also their voting (where they have a vote…). I would also like to propose that another place in which this would not be the norm would be in the Shire. And so, at a juncture such as this, it is important to ask the following question… …What would Frodo do? Well you may already be thinking that this is a stupid question, but bear with me on this and I hope it will make some more sense. You may also be thinking 'Who is this guy, claiming he can read the mind of the great Frodo?’. Well, I believe I know his mind pretty well having recently completed the Lord of the Rings marathon in under twelve hours. Boom. So before we get down to the question of voting, let’s examine Frodo’s character a little. The first trait which stands out is that he is self-sacrificial. At the secret council at Rivendell in the Fellowship, he knows the risks that will face him if he takes the Ring and goes to Mordor, and yet he stands up and is willing to sacrifice himself, and his livelihood, for the greater good. This is his second key trait, he acts for the greater good. Throughout all three books, Frodo (and Sam) hark back to their motivation for undertaking their epic quest, and this is for the good of the Shire, and even of the whole of Middle Earth! They are certainly acting out of a desire for the greater good to come to fruition, and for evil to be conquered. These two traits form the bedrock of what we know about Frodo. Yes, we see flaws and cracks in his innocent selflessness and utilitarian humanity (such as his refusal to throw the ring into Mount Doom), but on the whole, this is what we think of when we think of Frodo. We must now establish whether we do indeed see these traits as ‘good’ rules to follow in life, and if so, then how this should guide our voting if we want to be more like Frodo.
The Shire Life So, is this ‘Shire’ mentality a helpful way of thinking today. Well I would like to suggest that yes, it is.
I believe that we have a kind of inward battle raging inside of us which determines our actions. It seems to be “What we know to be ‘good’” (Frodo) verses “What we know to be bad, or less good” (The Ring). We see this in many ways; we know it’s not great to spend hours on Facebook (or Tumblr) when we are supposed to be revising, and yet we do; we know that those new shoes won’t make us much more happy, and the money could feed someone on our streets for weeks, and yet we go for the shoes; we rightly flock to and applaud YouTube videos of altruism and kindness, and deteste videos selfishness, and yet our lives look more like the selfish or judgmental videos than the kind and caring ones. (Well, I am speaking for myself here at least). We know what is the best and yet we don’t do it. We know what Frodo would do, and yet we are lured by the power of the Ring. I believe we really do know that being selfless, utilitarian and altruistic are good things, just as we know that giving that twenty pounds to charity is a wiser use of money (and will likely make us feel better) than spending it on last year’s Fifa game.
So how does this guide our voting? Well, assuming you’re with me up to now, we have to find some practical applications for how this can alter our mindsets in the coming weeks leading up to the elections, and here are a few things that may be helpful…
1) Think about the people groups or areas of society who really need help, and that you think the Government should be spending their money on helping. 2) Look into the various Party’s manifestos (click for the helpful BBC Policy Guide) and see which Party would most benefit the group you have in mind, bringing about the greater good (remember the greater good is still subjective so will look different for different people) and taking us closer to equality. 3) Continue to ponder and weigh up the Party’s based on policy, trying to avoid the media fanfare, and the fact that some Politicians put on better shows than others. 4) Vote on May 7th!
Even Frodo sometimes questions what the point is of all of this, but it’s important that we remember the wise words of Samwise Gamgee at these times and take heed.
“What are we holding on to, Sam?” “That there’s some good in this world, mister Frodo! And it’s worth fighting for."
Ok, maybe a bit dramatic. But seriously…
We can vote differently. We can vote with care. We can vote and make a difference.
Whilst I wrote this for the 2015 election, and some of it is very cheesey, I think the main point still stands. Have a read!