The politics of "the red party"

is how the present Opposition was described to me yesterday.
A friend came in to witness the Senior Cat's signature on the envelope of his postal vote.  I could have done this but I was advised that it is better to get someone outside the family to do it and P.... was happy to help.
The two of them were sitting at the kitchen table and discussing the election while I was getting lunch ready. I told P.... I planned to vote early.
He asked whether I would I be handing out "how to vote" cards. I told him no.
I would never do this simply because I think if you haven't made up your mind beforehand then why are you bothering to vote? I really believe they should give away with how to vote cards and all the other advertising material littering the stobie (telegraph) poles. The photographs on some of the corflutes  are years out of date. The corflutes are expensive to buy and the printing of the other material is expensive as well. 
Although it would never happen I would actually like all political advertising to be banned. Anyone running for election would have the right to send out just one lot of information. "These are our policies. This how we plan to fund them and this is how we plan to deliver them."  No sniping at one another and no chance to change mid-stream because your opponents said one thing or another.
Of course politics would be no "fun" then. There wouldn't be that adrenalin rush that leaves everyone simply exhausted and, whatever the result, glad the actual process is over.
I arranged postal votes for a number of other people this time. Last election it became obvious to me that if they were going to actually use their vote themselves then it was better for them to have a postal vote. I won't go into all the details but these are people with disabilities who have a vote but don't really understand what they are doing. They understand the concept of choosing between people but they have no understanding of what policy is. I try to explain it in simple terms. I make it very clear that they have to choose and that I cannot tell them what to do. I tell them I cannot tell them how I am going to vote. Some of them have been used to voting as their carers tell them for years.  There are "carers" out there who have had multiple votes for years simply because they tell their clients how to mark their ballot papers - or even mark the papers for them. They see nothing wrong with this.
And I see "how to vote" cards in much the same way. They say, "Do this. Don't think, just do it."
Could we be rid of them please?