The right to vote is the ultimate expression of freedom but it comes with a heavy responsibility. We tend to blame governments when things go wrong but it is we the voters who put them there; sometimes for many, many years over multiple elections.

As the election date gets closer, we voters must stop and self examine who we are and what we stand for. Our forefathers suffered under many outside powers without the ability of self-governance: the Arabs, the Knights, the French, the British etc. They gave their own lives so we can have the freedom we enjoy today.

There are, however, many of us who, while free to make a choice, seem to vote the way we always did. Perhaps like our parents and our grandparents had voted.

We do have the right to do so but are we slaves to somebody else’s choice? Are we being responsible by voting without listening, without questioning what is going on? Are we reading or hearing what the other party is saying or what they stand for? Do we try and watch the other party’s TV channels or do we only listen through one ear? Are we voluntarily taking on the mantle of ‘oppressed people’, subjecting ourselves to the inequities of people in Iran, North Korea et al?

Voting the way we always did without justification is not a responsible action even though it is our right to do so. Freedom comes with responsibility. We owe our country, our fellow citizens, our children and grandchildren a solid and prosperous future: financially, socially, environmentally and politically.

Let us cut the bondage that a two-party system creates.

Let us, for a change, vote for a party because they have earned our vote and deserve it.

If we continue to do what we always did, we will continue to get what we always got.

May the best party win.