OK Steve, if you’re actually going to make me THINK this election…
How’d They Vote?
It’s pretty easy here folks… Find your riding, find your MP, take a look at how they voted in the past. Do you agree?
Honestly, I’m not the greatest candidate to talk about electoral participation. I’m generally so disgusted with the behaviour of our politicians that I find it very difficult to motivate myself towards involvement. In my opinion, our two major parties play so much alike, that there is very little discernable difference to the general public who is actually in power. They’ve both been caught with their hands in the cookie jar before, neither of them lives up to the promises they make during elections, the system is generally biased towards special interest groups who can afford to buy their politicians, who then proceed to make decisions favourable to their “supporters”.
I’m not impressed. I’m not amused. I have little faith. Just try watching 10 minutes of Parliament and tell me what would have happened to you if you had acted so poorly in grade 2. The system is screwed. Generation X at it’s best, baby, what do you really expect me to think?
However, as Doogie once said: “We’re in it for the species.”
I do vote. I do get involved. But I don’t delude myself into thinking that I’m trying to make a difference in the next 4 years. These people are on contract, you don’t trust long-term priorities to people who can walk away in 4 years with a pension and a smile.
Want to know who I vote for?
What’s your favourite colour?
Laugh at me all you want. Do I think they’re going to win the next election? Heck no!! Do I even think in their current form they could effectively govern Canada? Noooo way!
Would I like the powers-that-be, and the public-at-large, to see that there is a growing support for pro-environmental policies?
Do you think that there’s the slightest chance that, in the long run (the only race worth considering), those who wield the power might consider integrating some of those policies into their own mandates in order to remain in power?
If only 2%, or 5%, or 10% of the electorate openly offers their support to a party that will support their beliefs, then maybe some of those “fringe” beliefs can eventually make their way into the mainstream. I do not vote for the party I want to run the country for the next 4 years. I don’t vote for the MP I want to represent my neighbourhood. I definitely don’t vote according to what people SAY they believe in. I vote for what I believe in, and what I want for this country in the next 40 years.
Bottom line from a jaded Gen-X’er: Whether I vote or not, either the Liberals or the Conservatives will run the country. They’re both full of crap, and I don’t trust or believe either of them for a second. Two sides of the same jagged, rusty coin. The Greens know they won’t win the next election, so they can afford to speak their mind. I may not agree with everything they say, but at least I believe that THEY believe what they’re saying. Honesty in politics? I’ll take it wherever I can find it.
