Simply by wielding those stubby little pencils they give you in the polling booth you can control your fate and that of millions of your fellow country persons - including those much talked about ‘ordinary working families’ who live ‘up and down the country’.
Through casting your vote, you can exercise your democratic right to shape society the way you want it to be…
Well that’s the promise, but it’s not really the case is it?
Let’s not kid ourselves, as a voter you are being offered just two options - Tory or Labour.
That’s it. Sorry about that.
Your other political parties The Greens, The UKIPs, The Lib Dems, The Monster RLPs and so forth are like snails in a French restaurant.
It’s good to know they are on the menu (in fact you would be really annoyed if they weren’t..) but there’s no point in choosing them as your main meal.
This is a problem.
We do have a choice, but it’s like going into a sweetshop and being offered peanut M&Ms or the chocolate M&Ms.
“What about Revels?” I hear you cry, “Where’s the Curley Wurly?”
Our first past the post system means that second and third place count for nothing in each constituency.
This means that the winning party could well have fewer votes than the second placed party. This should be changed right? Surely all those second and third place votes should count for something?
Certainly those in the parties that come third or fourth support the idea of change (well they would say that wouldn’t they?)
But the parties that take it in turns to come first and second don’t agree (well they would say that wouldn’t they?).
Change could only come about if we were able to vote one of those third of fourth placed parties into power (which you can’t) but imagine if you could… well no, it still wouldn’t happen because finding themselves in power they wouldn’t want to weaken their own position on the top of the pile.
The system is a problem and is about as representative of the individual’s wishes as a hard of hearing grandparent who insists on dolloping yet another helping of unwanted salmon mousse on your plate.
There are other voting systems out there which attempt to represent your wishes more proportionately but they have their issues as well.
But.. and (like Beyonce) it’s a big but, let’s remember the alternative is worse. Much worse. Moaning about the nuances of proportional representation is very much a first world problem.
Of the world’s 192 countries, a staggering 69 are non-democratic. And of those 123 democratic countries only 19 are classified as full democracies. These figures are compiled by the Democracy Index, an index compiled by the UK-based Economist Intelligence Unit.
Look it up - you may be surprised to learn that the UK does not even make it into the top ten democracies - we’re 16th, just below Malta.
It’s a little like the Eurovision Song Contest, although unlike the Eurovision contest it’s Norway that is in the top spot.
When June 8 comes around, I know it might be a slight faff to drag yourself out to a local school hall to put a cross on a bit of paper.
This is the deal - you’re allowed to moan about politics, but only if you vote. In most places around the world people are not allowed to moan - they have to remain relentlessly cheerful and on message.
In the UK we have inherited moaning as a birthright, in fact we invented it, it’s our greatest contribution to the wider world.
There is nothing more powerful than a well placed ‘tut’ or a roll of the eyes.
And it’s a lot less of a bother than having to stand alone in front of a Chinese tank.