The Election Post
Larcher said he was worried that the queer community didn’t seem worried about the election. xtra via comments at dust my broom
And they are not the only ones…
If ever there was an election which failed to excite the population – save and except Quebec artists and gay activists (not, I suspect, entirely exclusive sets) – this would be it.
Once Dion got his money and carbon credits straight he shambled off to first try to sell, then explain and then, finally, underbus the Green Shift. Smilin’Jack proudly pointed out that he was not and never had been a Liberal. Lizzy explained that while she herself was not a Liberal it might not be a bad idea to vote for them just in case. M. Duceppe kept up the solid refrain “What’s in it for Quebec” with an accompanying whine from Danny “Double Dipper” Williams who, apparently, does not like Stephen Harper.
The Press reported polls, gaffes, the effect of gaffes on polls, the assorted high crimes and misdemeanors of candidates came back to elect them (who would have though inviting a 14 year old girl to paint your erect penis would lead to the probable election of the prettiest potential member of Parliament twelve years later – karma is indeed a bitch), a pooping puffin, more polls, more gaffes, shouting matches in two languages touted as debates, a financial meltdown which underscores just how well Canada is doing and therefore dooms the sitting Prime Minister to an empathy gap – no style, no substance and certainly no leadership or vision. (It is, by the way, time for some adult in each party to take the keys to the war room away from the teens who apparently are running them. Surely someone would have figured this out after Scott Reid lost the Libs the last election.)
So, tomorrow we vote. I have little time for Stephen Harper and less for the spineless creeps in the CPC who have provided us with a couple of years of minimal change because they did not have a “majority” and did not want to frighten the dimmer voters in Ontario, Quebec and Canada’s ethnic communities. But I have far less for the green delusions of M. Dion and the crazed pandering of Smilin’ Jack (stick the man in a Hungarian Community Center and I have no doubt Hungarian would join Punjabi in the Official Language sweepstakes – loser).
Normally I would root for Lizzy because, Hell, I like loony gadflies. The problem is that she is running against one of the few mildly intelligent CPC people and Harper simply cannot afford to lose Peter Mackay.
Reluctantly I shall wander off to the polls and vote CPC in a riding which will almost certainly go NDP. And I will do that simply as a protest vote against the donkeys in both the Liberal and New Democratic Party who cannot seen to understand the basic instability of the science of global warming and the insanity of the economics of remediation.
I suppose I would like to see a CPC majority just to see if the cowards would actually implement a conservative program. Repeal s. 13 of the CHRA. Privatize the CBC. Eliminate the grants to SOW and, with luck, most of the whining artists of Quebec. Practice fiscal conservatism for real – cut actual program spending. Finally stand up and admit that the science on global warming is far from certain and the economics are simply nuts. Devolve power to the provinces. Cut off Nfld and NS’s double dipping. That sort of thing. (As if…)
But I would be ok with a minority simply so as to ensure that M. Dion’s harebrained schemes never, ever, see the light of policy day. That would be enough.
Well, that and the bankruptcy of the Liberal Party.
And on that note – for you lefties wanting to vote strategically: remember, a vote for the Liberal Party gives them $1.97 per year to avoid bankruptcy. If you vote NDP or Green there is every chance the Liberal Party will cease to exist. Think about it…a forlorn hope of beating Harper or the Liberal Party, dead and gone: your call. But it really is a once in a generation opportunity to kill the Liberals dead.
October 14th, 2008 at 1:03 am
Vote for your doomed CPCer if you must, Jay, but keep in mind that in voting for Stephen Harper you are voting for Canada’s most powerful and determined enemy of free speech. Bless.
October 14th, 2008 at 5:14 am
You are so right. We really have to choose the best of the worst. I so hope that someday the CPC will develop some balls and get some long overdue changes done.
October 14th, 2008 at 6:47 am
A pretty jaded capsulization of the current campaign and general political acumen in this frigid little smurfville. Sadly, there is much truth to it and I understand completely your antipathy with Canadian democratic mediocrity Jay. For anyone with even cursory objectivity and a modicum of civil ethos, watching establishment partisans and media host this grotesque manipulation of truth and public interest every four years becomes noxiously banal.
At the end of each political cycle, the partisan actors (driven entirely by either self or party interest who have retarded or misrepresented majority will in parliament for the previous sessions), take to the streets promising gifts and spewing visions of utopia that only “they” can provide in return for us giving them far more power than any partisan political cartel should be trusted with. (usually creating a hell for those pressed into state servitude to provide the revenue resources)
And each time the media facilitates the mirage of democratic choice and the illusion of partisan integrity in deference to majority will. And, once again in lockstep, the gullible little smurfs of Smurfbec and Smurftario buy into the big lie that what is bad for western smurfs is good for eastern smurfs, and they dutifully swallow the distortions and manipulating distractions created by the media-party syndicate. They vote as they are directed to accordingly and we enter another four year political cycle where voters do not recognize any of their interests or will being represented in policy making. In the current partisan system policy is for regime patrons and NGOs not the majority. That IS utopia for partisan political cartels.
I keep hoping to see the reappearance of civil statesmanship in Canadian public office. The appearance of independent candidates asking for my vote and in return, instead of offering to bribe me with my own money (or someone else’s), simply promise to act as their constituents wish and make me a freer citizen. More liberty, populist democracy, more citizen empowerment, and less interference by “officialdom” in my personal affairs.
But not bloody likely as long as the media is in the business of selling partisan patronage politics as democracy and NGO agendas as “public” policy.
October 14th, 2008 at 10:00 am
You have to put the I ma Canadian Deifenbaker quote in your post or else we won’t incude you in our election blogburst blogroll. So there.
October 14th, 2008 at 10:04 am
I’ll live BCF.
October 14th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
I’m going to the voting booth because voting is important. And then I’m writing Batman’s name on my ballot because integrity is important too, and near as I can tell, that’s the only way to get integrity on my ballot.
So, um, there.
October 14th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
Ah, but will you write Batman or Bruce Wayne…
It is these sorts of decisions which make the actual voting such a chore.
October 14th, 2008 at 2:49 pm
Right on—the Liberals should cease to exist, just as they have in Britain. Who needs a wishy-washy Liberal party that doesn’t know what it stands for?
All we need in Canadian politics is a Conservative Party (now, however, the New Liberal Party), a social-democratic party (NDP) and a Green party. There is no room or need for the Liberal Party.
November 1st, 2008 at 6:19 am
well one thing is for sure, we will find out soon!
We all need to work together in making new changes so that we can boost the economics in the united states for the good of Americans