Post the Twentieth - on the importance of voting

It seems apt that this topic is the one which falls on my twentieth post, because it deserves to be marked as a milestone. Today is the day of local and European elections here in Britain, so it is especially topical for readers from the UK, but I would hope that those of you living elsewhere will find it just as relevant. (After all, SA just had presidential elections,  and there is always somewhere in the world dealing with the issue of suffrage.)

I should note, before I begin, that this is not intended to be a post telling people how they should vote. I have always made the leftie nature of my own views pretty plain, and I might tentatively ask that UKIP be avoided because the prospect of them getting in terrifies me, but I would not wish to force my politics onto anyone else.

What I do want to stress, though, is that it is crucial to vote (however you may choose to do so). We are extremely privileged in this country because we have the opportunity to voice our opinions in a safe and democratic manner, without fear of retribution from the authorities - and, although people seem to forget this fact, this is something which is still comparatively rare. It's also relatively new, even in our country - a point of which, as a young woman with a disability, I am very much aware. These groups, just two among many, have long been termed disenfranchised - for a reason.

Women in Britain have had the vote for less than a century. 1918 brought with it the first revision of The Representation of the People Act - but this only gave suffrage to women over thirty who were in possession of property. It was not until 1928 that this right was extended to all women over the age of 21. Having just turned 22 myself, I am extremely conscious that I would only have enjoyed one year of my majority by now. Except, of course, I wouldn't - because the other condition of being granted the right to vote was that you were deemed to have the mental capacity to do so, and, until very very recently, people like me were frequently shut away in institutions. We weren't deemed fit to be seen in the world, let alone to be allowed to vote!

Now, this is not an angry post, although revelations like that might fire a few flames. Rather it is a celebratory one. I have often said that I would like to have lived in the eighteenth century - except for the lack of good sanitation and the right to vote. This post constitutes an expression of my gratitude that I am actually living right now - and how lucky I feel - as well as an explanation of why I will most definitely be voting, today, and in all future elections I have the privilege to witness. Hopefully it'll convince you to, too!