Performing a civic duty
PERSPECTIVE
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By Juha Akkanen
My parents taught me that voting is both a civil right and a civic duty.
Indeed, voting in the municipal elections seems more like an obligation than a right; at least for a working childless person living alone in a home that he owns himself; municipal affairs are of little relevance.
According to a Helsingin Sanomat Gallup poll, citizens feel that important issues in the election include health care, care for the elderly, school funding, child day care, library services, public transport, etc.
There they are.
They say that there are long queues at public health clinics. I wouldn’t know. I’ve never been to one, because I can go private.
Child day care and school lunches? They interest me even less.
Care for the elderly? It is a bit far-fetched to imagine that the treatment of my aged mother, who lives in Eastern Finland, would be affected in any way by how I cast my vote in the Helsinki City Council elections.
My closest library branch is within walking distance. I go there about twice a year - once to borrow a book, and once to return it when the fines for late return start approaching the price of a new book.
I take the city bus to work. It doesn’t look like voting can have much of an effect even on public transport; the service gets worse anyway each time there is a bid for competitive tenders. The schedules are thinned out, the trip lasts longer, and the buses are more packed than ever. Perhaps they should put a stop to the bidding process while there are still a few routes running.
What do I get in return for the municipal taxes I pay? My home has electricity, as well as cold and warm water, and I have to pay for them separately. The streets are paved and they are illuminated at night, and every now and then in the winter a snowplough will go by. The price for all of this is quite high.
Left Alliance chairwoman Suvi-Anne Siimes said in an interview with this newspaper that each one of us in turn is on the giving end and the receiving end.
What she didn’t say is that her party promotes a policy aimed at allowing as many people as possible to stay on the receiving end as long as possible. But someone has to pay for all of that.
But let’s go to the other extreme: one could say that it would be just as fair for everyone to pay a flat fee for basic infrastructure (roads, lighting, etc.), and that for actual services, each user would pay according to the actual cost. In families with children, the family member with the highest income would pay for the children’s share.
I suspect that not even a member of the National Coalition Party would dare to promote such right-wing policies openly.
And before all of you at home start writing bitter rejoinders, let it be said that I do not really think this way.
It is part of our European sense of morality to take care of those who are weak. Also, the fact that efforts are made to guarantee the economic preconditions for a life of basic human dignity has also had massive social benefits: social peace and calm on the streets.
Even in the Kallio district of Helsinki it is possible to walk without fear that someone will rob you to get money for food - drugs maybe, but not food.
Free education has guaranteed that those who get training for demanding tasks are the ones with the necessary smarts, and not just those whose parents have enough money. We have all benefited from this.
There are far too many candidates in the municipal elections, and the candidate selection engines on the Internet are not much help. They either throw up complete unknowns, or candidates with opinions that are so far to the right they are impossible to vote for.
Perhaps I am trying to convince myself that I am more socially responsible - and in general a better person - than I really am.
I guess the solution is to do like so many others: vote for a familiar person who lives in the neighbourhood, even though that candidate is unlikely to have a chance of getting elected. We disagree on many issues, and the candidate’s party promotes policies on the national level that mostly go against my interests.
But then nobody will be able to say that I didn’t do my civic duty.
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 16.10.2004
Advance voting in municipal elections ends today, Tuesday, and the actual polling day is Sunday, October 24th.
JUHA AKKANEN / Helsingin Sanomat
juha.akkanen@hs.fi
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| 19.10.2004 - THIS WEEK |
 Performing a civic duty |
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