H/t Michael De Adder
Should you need further encouragement, read the columns by Martin Regg Cohn and Susan Delacourt.
Says Cohn:
Decide for yourself who to vote for but whatever your decision, do not persuade yourself that your vote doesn’t matter. Nothing is more corrosive than cynicism at a time when so many citizens around the world crave the certainty and stability of our democracy.And, from my perspective, most importantly,
Think of the citizens of Hong Kong who are protesting in the streets for a semblance of democratic rule that Canadians take for granted. Consider the people in the Middle East who dreamed of an Arab Spring, only to see it fade away. I lived in both places for a decade, covering the human rights movements where people risked bullets for ballots, and were prepared to die for democracy, then as now.
Even in so-called “safe seats” that seem predestined to favour the incumbent MP, every ballot contributes to the national popular vote tallies that are very much taken into consideration, historically, by a governor general in deciding which party (or combination of parties) has a mandate to govern.As well, Susan Delacourt reminds us,
There is a point, though, in taking the time to vote, especially at this juncture in history. Look to the U.S. or Britain and the turmoil in politics there over the past few years. Democracy matters. Elections matter. Voting matters.There are many ways to honour our citizenship. Participation in the voting process is one of the best.
... I’m hoping that 2015 wasn’t a blip — that the upward trajectory in turnout continues on Monday, because we’re seeing how fragile democracy can be, even in nations with deep, democratic traditions, such as the U.S and Britain.
Maybe I read a different message in that cartoon. I see people, young people, desperately trying to salvage a viable future yet knowing they will have no say, no vote in this election, many not in the next either. "I'd like to help you, son, but you're too young to vote."
ReplyDeleteThat's not cynicism. It's realism. The voting public had a chance, in my view a profound moral obligation, to stand up for the future of our kids and, in our votes, responded 'no thank you.' And that, as Jared Diamond chronicles, is how societies choose to fail.
A litmus test of how degraded politics has become in Canada was seen in this election that transformed into a parliamentary pissing contest between a summer help counter-clerk and a school marm. The only truth we got out of either of them was when they implored us not to believe the other one.
How do we rise to the level of cynicism when we're asked to choose between two liars? Both are the type of political man whom Theodore Roosevelt urged be run out of office. Yet that is the standard we are expected to accept today when we flock to the polls. You're dismissed as cynical if you deign to notice that we're being scammed. Is ignoring that the way we are to honour our citizenship?
What I took from the cartoon was this, Mound: there is, on the one hand, the passion of both the young and the not-so-young for change; on the other hand, there is the only mechanism, however remote it might seem, for change -voting. And presumably those who are impassioned will see through the facade of the two major parties and cast their ballots accordingly. As for those too young to vote, as Sal says in the next comment, we need both protesting and voting.
Delete.. I cannot enumerate the issues or signs or clues to distortion or distraction or evasion, indeed invasion of truth & fact as we find ourselves immersed in Election Day. i think de Adder may have goofed by drawing what gives the appearance of a 'yellow vester' pointing out where to vote.. perhaps I am wrong.. and I 'get it' re the vote vs the protesting.. but we need both (I am a huge fan of de Adder too)
ReplyDeleteI just voted.. was a tough choice.. it came down to The Animal Party, 85 year young candidate and The Green guy.. neither of whom presented exceptionally well in the town hall meeting.. but the websites were clear & informative.
My bet is Min Sook Lee NDP will turf it out with the incumbent Liberal Julie Dabrusin.. The NDP has swamped this riding with signage. Not a Conservative sign to be seen, not even at the Town Hall. I saw one Conservative sign in the Beach(es).. where Nathaniel Erskine-Smith is the dude.. incumbent Liberal.. a great kid. Bit of a renegade
My biggest wish, is that people treat political polls as poison pills. We never see the question(s) or the context or the cross section or who paid.. somebody must be paying.. who are we kidding..? Polls are a free 'Public Service' ?? Provided free of charge to Mainstream Media ? And the moon is made of cheese and the buffalo will roam the remediated tar sands tailings ponds.. for sweet prairie grass which sways in the Alberta breezes.. uh, never
The next four years.. no matter what.. must be dedicated to empowering our youth, getting a stranglehold on 'Public Servants' and any ideological or legislative action Canadians did not vote for.. that is Provincial or Federal by the by..
Whomever 'wins' .. it is not about them.. it is about us.. yes.. their employers
The line they must toe.. is our line.. not their vague manipulations
I await legsl action upon Andrew Scheer, Hamish Marshall, the CPC et al.. re their deal with Daisy and Kinsella to create an arms length deception to avoid 3rd party Election disclosure.. Seizure of all documents, emails, communications private & official must be swift and thorough. Its not for nothing Kinsella et al cut and ran waving a white flag.. disappeared themselves, or Scheer's laughable & smelly deflection 23 times re 'as a rule we do not comment on vendors we may or may not have engaged'.. that was worse than Bob Stanfield's football punt fumble.. red faced instead of blackface.. classic horseshite salad, hold the lettuce & tomato, microwaved to steaming ..
Your points are well-taken, Sal. I cast my vote for the Green candidate, not because she has a chance of winning, but to give me and I hope many others the opportunity to express to the Liberals and Conservatives how truly odious they are.
DeleteWe are being overtaken by events. They will drive the future. We'll see who can best adapt to unstoppable change.
ReplyDeleteThere are many fossils and their fuels who will oppose change until the end, Owen.
Delete.. I 'get' Owen's point.. but will challenge it.. 'We' (whomever the hell that is) must, just as Owen has said.. 'find our better angels' .. Amen .. But we need now to go proactive, even mean.. tough. This aint no party, this aint no disco (Talking Heads) this is root hog or die, survival mode..
ReplyDeleteWe got a guy named Gerald Butts acting as the best bud savant to Justin Trudeau.. what ? He's Trudeau's 'consiglieri' ? Who elected this thug ? He's some sort of more sociable version of Harper's Ray Novak.. ?? Sez who ?
Owen is perhaps the sagest of sages.. He gets more done in twenty words than I accomplish or fail at or flail at.. in 500 words.. but we have to go preemptive.. the time is nigh.. the foxes are in the henhouse.. and the rats too.. its Louisville Slugger time, stompin boots.. ass kicken time. Set some real example.. defend our youth, our elders, our yet to be born.. not buy into the vague & vapid politalk talking plonks and slogans
Tomorrrow morning or late tonight, the task.. the hill to climb and take is revealed.. the 'salient' .. the battleground.. Its doable.. hell, it has to be done.. See Canada as 'the granary' .. defend it or lose it to the political animals and barbarians within.. If we can't even identify the foe.. we aint even in the game..
I am about to tune into election coverage, Sal. Tomorrow, we will know all.
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