Canadian Oct. 14 2008 Election

I am sick to DEATH of voters and elections. I am all for democracy, but I am sick of this sort of anti-democracy ideology floating around lately. Politics are always dirty and disgusting, but this is worse than politics. It's anti-politics. It's dumb people who just like to be anti-something. "I hate conforming, I am anti-Harper." People vote for ANYONE who isn't Stephen Harper. How many Facebook groups are there that equate with "Vote for anyone but Harper." "Vote NDP, AGAINST Harper."

Why are we voting against people? You should, first of all, vote FOR the policies you want to see happen, not against ones you don't want. This isn't a referendum. This whole negative version of voting is turning the whole political process into a negative one. For instance, parties rarely promote their policies in advertisement anymore; instead they tear down the oppoisition's stance with negative campaigning and attack ads. This leaves voters who actually just want to know what a party's platform is searching in newspapers and Google. Most websites and newspapers are financially backed by left or right-leaning owners, unfortuantely. It is not up to a writer or editor, whether their piece portrays a certain party in a positive or negative light. Unfortunately, you must be ruthful when reading newspapers for political news to see past the tone and connotations suggested by the writing. Do like me, and avoid political pieces altogether.

Wouldn't it all be more effective if the platform came right from the party? You must stop voting against Harper or Dion or Layton. You cannot vote a Rhinocerus into the Parliament buildings, get this through your heads. Throwing away your vote on independent parties just to spite Harper is stupid. Okay so he doesn't win? He is still going to make sackfulls of money just by being the opposition leader or even a member of parliament. You aren't hurting his feelings. You aren't hurting his wallet. If you actually want to tell Harper how much you hate him, write him a letter. Protest. Do something productive, other than throw away your vote. I'm not saying voting for the NDP, Green or independent parties are throwing away your vote. If you believe strongly with their platform and that they can do their best to keep their promises then please, by all means.

Secondly, stop viewing the politicians that head up the federal parties as "people." This sounds bad, but hear me out. It's not like you are going to tea with these people. You don't have to like them. They didn't get this far in the jungle of politics by being nice, trustworthy, kind people. They are here because they are smart, they are creative, they are good public speakers, they are shrewd, ambitious, focused, motivated and thick-skinned. Do these sound like adjectives to describe your best friend? I didn't think so. They are leaders. Of a party. In fact, despite what you may think, what they say does not go. Like other members of parliament, they as a party come up with and pass bills. Real life isn't like 24. When you talk about Harper, you are talking about the Conservative party. When you say Dion, you mean Liberal. Jack Layton may look like a weasel, but he represents the New Democratic Party. If these words are new to you, its because there is so much stress about putting a human face on political parties, oftentimes the party fades into the background. WHO CARES what they look like? Who cares what god damn hockey team they support? Jesus, everyone took law in high school at least for one year. Can we get past the superficiality of our current political system and actually make our votes count this year?

I don't care who you vote for. The reality is this is Canada. If they screw up totally, they will be out faster than Kim Campbell. Almost all of the parties will have an aspect of their platform that you identify with. Read the platforms on the government websites. Create a checklist and decide on the party that has the most checks that affect you positively. If you see people (or are one of these people) who has anti-Harper pins, or anti-Dion, or whatever, tell them to shove it somewhere CSI couldn't find it. That's all.

-- the golden girl