I've come to realise that unfortunately everything is cyclical. I saw an article today where the main message in swapping parties was "people want change". I remember that exact same feeling when the Tories took over last, etc etc, around we go.
They'll be back in power in another decade, then eventually out again, then in again, etc. Nothing overly substantial ever truly gets resolved. We still have a big and growing class divide, the rich are getting richer and the poor poorer as they have consistently done for almost a century now, our freedoms are slowly and quietly being chiseled away in tiny pieces, etc.
If you want a good example of how the leaders in No. 10 don't really matter overall, and they're just swapping seats every few years and just slightly tweaking various dials a bit to look like they're fresh and new and will bring real change, look at homelessness.
People love to ignore it because it's always been a problem, and yet if those in power actually wanted to, they could all but end it within a few short years, building aid, compassion, rehabilitation and education in at every level to stop it before it happens, and provide safety nets and assistance immediately when it does.
But instead the government choose to be hostile towards victims of homelessness, installing benches they can't sleep on, spikes they can't sit on, etc.
Will Labour overturn such evil practices and actually help the homeless once in power? Absolutely not, because they're not truly, at any more than a surface level, any different to the Tories. It's just a new coat of paint we put on every few years.
I don't enjoy this, I don't get a kick out of noticing these patterns and how pointless it all is, it makes me deeply sad.
I could vote for a party that has no ties to the rich ruling class and makes that extremely transparently clear (if one even exists), but everybody else are just going to vote for whichever in the two party system are promising change this decade.
In the 20s that's Labour. But in the 30s or 40s at the very latest we'll be back to the Tories again, promising change.
Regardless of who I vote for, my vote means nothing, when all the choices are either parties that have zero hope of winning, or two parties that are functionally the same under a coat of paint with only slightly different opinions on which of their rich buddies they should help empower this time round.
My vote is functionality useless. It may have meant something once, but now it's just a clever way to trick the lower classes into thinking that they're in charge, and thus whatever ill befalls the nation is ultimately their fault for voting the current government in (and as a bonus it keeps the lower classes fighting amongst themselves between voting groups ).
It all makes me sad and feel hopeless :-(