Sifting Through the Rhetoric
Yes, an election’s in the air. As of this writing, the advanced polls have already taken place in preparation for this country’s upcoming federal election — what is this, election #4 in 6 years? It’s one of the gifts of democracy and freedom — the opportunity to speak your mind, have your voice heard, cast your vote for the person who you feel is best suited to lead our country. So many people around the world long for this privilege and yet, statistically, so few of us who have it avail ourselves of the opportunity. Why is that?
Well, in my personal experience, part of the challenge is the tedium of rhetoric. There’s a way that, when an election looms, those at the helm of respective parties engage in little more than mud-slinging and name calling. Even the youngest of our society know that very little is to be gained by this. My 11 year old son, who is studying the art of persuasive letter-writing and politics at the same time, often cringes at the antics he sees our leaders engaging in, as portrayed in the newspapers, radio and television. Even he knows that these are tactics, and that while these tactics might get you into office, they won’t keep you there if you can’t produce what you say you’re going to deliver. Throughout history, politicians have developed a reputation for “saying what people want to hear” (or what they think people want to hear) and then not delivering. Which leaves the population at large feeling disappointed, let down, cynical. Which leads to people not exercising their right to vote, even when they know it’s a privilege.
So, what to do? Well, in my opinion, this is an opportunity to forget the rhetoric, disengage from the mind games, and ask yourself this: all else being equal, who do you truly believe has what it takes to lead our country effectively? Who embodies the qualities of effective leadership as you see it? Who do you believe would accurately represent you? The person who fits the answer to these questions is the person to vote for. If he or she happens to be from one of the “less popular” parties — i.e., not Liberal or Conservative — so be it. Too often, I hear people talk about “wasted votes”, as in, “If I vote for who I really want, it’ll be a wasted vote because s/he’ll never actually get in, so I should just vote for one of the two major parties, even though I don’t like either of them.” Well, from my perspective, this is skewed thinking. In Canada, we do not live in a two-party system. There are in fact 5 parties that I’m aware of (Liberal, Conservative, NDP, Green, and Bloc) and if you feel strongly about one, that is the one to vote for. That is the way to make your true voice heard. That is the way to ensure that our politicians have an accurate guage of what the country at large is thinking.
Is the system perfect? No. I could go on for quite a while on how I would like to see the system tweaked. And I won’t. Instead, this is my appeal to all of you of voting age to check in with yourself, know what’s important to you, find out whose platform best aligns with that, then cast your vote. Make it count. You have this privilege. Don’t let it go to waste. It’s time to sift through the rhetoric.
Have you determined how you will vote in the Canadian federal election on May 2nd, 2011? What are the major factors that influence your decision? If you could change one thing about our political system, what would it be? Leave a comment here or feel free to send me an email. I’d love to hear your thoughts!