To vote or not to vote, that is the question! ( in the upcoming Canadian Federal Elections)
Alas, to be a "good" citizen, you must vote.
In my mind, to be a "good" citizen, you must either:
Do some research, and vote for the party you think will do best for the country
Don't vote at all
This is true; I jest that I would have voted for Bush had I been a US citizen; but I certainly would not have, unless of course I believed the Republican's plans for the country were better than the democrats (I'd say unlikely at this point in the game.)
Voting blindly is dangerous: it's what's got Bush as president twice: a bunch of brainwashed Christians. I'm not saying they are bad people, but blind they are.
And the media is of no help either. All the conservatives can spew is how the liberals are corrupt politicicians: big fucking deal, all politicians are, it's just the extent. If all the conservatives can do is badmouth, I certainly wouldn't vote for them.
From what I've read, the liberals have a better track record in recent history than the conservatives. Perhaps it's time to give the NDP's a chance, see if they don't muck Canada up to much. Then that comes down to "Oh, don't vote for NDP, you are just taking votes away from X or Y party" . Bullshit.
Considering the last "conservatives" weren't much better: Malrouny was the most corrupt of them all, pushing GST for his own gains in the manufacturing industry. He's no better than Bush, who gives tax breaks to his rich Oil friends.
Harris seems like a guy who was trying to make the right decisions, even if they were tough ones; but he certainly didn't go about it the right way, and tried to make our education system in Canada more like the US, which I believe is a folly. The US system is caught up in a numbers game of IQ tests and SAT scores, which are mostly bullshit, instead of worrying about real god damn learning.
So... who to vote for? I gotta do some reading, but from a third party, not one of the party's websites :)
posted by Medieval @ 1:07 p.m.
8 comments
8 Comments:
Matthew finally has a choice! To bad for you I don't think they're fielding a candidate in Windsor West.
Of course, you could always do what I've suggested and submit a blank ballot if you're unsatisfied with all the candidates.
Damn! I wish they running in Windsor. I'd vote for the "Pot Party". Even stoned (which kinda is taken for granted given their name) they'd do a better job than the Conservatives ever did, perhaps better than the Liberals?
It's too bad they are a "one issue only to stand up against the man" party.
Neccessary? Probably. If the "Conservatives" (who you know smoke more pot than the Liberals) get into power, they likely won't forward the legalization motion as much as the liberals did. Of course, I'm guessing this based solely upon their names :)
Here's a list of the people running in Windsor West .
Aside from the big 3 parties, we've also got an independent, a Marxist-Leninist (and former UWSA president), and a Progressive Canadian (which I believe is a right wing party, though not as far right as the Conservatives).
As far as the marijuana party, if they're going to win a seat anywhere outside of BC, you'd think it'd be Windsor West.
My support still lies with the NDP. Harris turned me off of Conservatives for a long time, and I have a hell of a time believeing Martin when he says that he didn't know that all this money was missing while he was finance minister. Not to mention the treatment of Herb Grey, which I believe is the main reason that the Liberals lost this riding.
My only issue with voting NDP is that I'd be wary of Layton as Prime Minister. Whenever I see a picture of him, he's always got this shifty smile that tells me he's up to something. Not to worry though, there's no way in hell the NDP will win that many seats.
Hrmm. I'd much rather have politicians who had respectable positions before they were politicians; that is, I'd vote for someone who was a lawyer (hey now, we all dislike lawyers sometimes, but Clinton was a great politician and lawyer before that), engineer,architect, etc etc. Not a slimy businessman who justs want to be a politician like Bush. Hence I wouldn't vote for the likes of that UWSA president.
In Windsor west you definitely aren't wasting your vote by voting NDP... NDP Brian Masse is the incumbent down there in smogsville, isn't he? I'm pretty sure he was elected back in the late days of my residency.
Really the NDP has no shot at being elected, but seemed to accomplish great things in their minority position alongside the liberals.
But it was the NDP's withdrawl of support that caused the government to fall. If another Grit minority is elected, I don't know how willing they would be to cooperate with the NDP. That's why I can't figure out why the NDP wanted to topple the gov't in the first place. They had more power than the opposition did because they were the ones holding the government up.
Although the Liberals may not have much choice but to cooperate with the NDP again, because I can't see them cooperating with the Tories or the Bloc.
As for Brian Masse, I like the guy. Though the ultimate endorsement came from Matt at the DH a couple nights ago (and I'm paraphrasing here):
"Brian Masse does a good job, at least that's what I get from his picture."
It's good to know that we as Canadians demand a lot from our politicians :)
You can tell a lot from a face though.
Clinton looks like a good guy, but that would lie to your face and seem to enjoy it. :)
Bush looks like a complete dumbass in every photo I've ever seen of him (this is without seeing him speak.)
The NDP federal candidate looks like a snake.
Are these really far from the truth?
Hmm, you may be on to something.
Once again proving that the best ideas are discovered at the bar.
Post a Comment
<< Home