…in fact, I love it!  I know the country doesn’t like politics, hates politicians and is generally ignorant of the ‘issues’ raised but I like it all.  I like it a lot.  I like everything about it except, perhaps, the photo-ops and the ‘non-speak’ babble that the politicians say ad nauseum. They never answer the question posed, they only answer with pre-established talking points and they basically mislead, obfuscate and lie.  And smile.  OMG….I really do hate the fake smiles.

More than anything, I hate the fake smiles.

But I still basically like the whole thing.

“Why?”

Because the people are more ignorant than dirt about most everything that matters but they aren’t stupid.  They know a liar when they hear one.  They know non-speak.  They know manufactured babble.  They know BS when they smell it.  They may not even know they know.  But they do.  The electorate has an instinct and it gets exercised at election time.  People make decisions.  They make choices.  They vote consciously or unconsciously but so long as they vote, they express themselves.

Most of them, anyway.

Some older people are blindly habitual with their vote.  They made their minds up long ago and they just vote as they always have.  These folks are the sad exception to conscious or even unconscious decision making (habit is habit) and the main reason we need young people to get out and vote. Young people initially carry their parent’s biases but, generally speaking, they vote as they feel or think.  And that is the change we need.

Put more succinctly, Canadians need to feel and think and vote their guts.

“Well, I vote my wallet and that means Conservative!”

Maybe.  But ask yourself the following, Mr. Con voter: do you trust those guys to tell you the truth about things?  Do you trust the Fords (one only has to lie with dogs to get fleas). Do you trust Duffy?  Wallin?  Is this a party with integrity?  They may be dollar focused but are you even looking at the truth about the dollar?  Vote for whoever you want but, if you vote for a liar, you have no idea what you are going to get.

“Well, I vote for humanity and sharing and Tinkerbelle so that means NDP.”  

Well, not so fast, Ms Pinko.  You have to know the facts before you pull the levers of power.  You have to have some brains.  You have to be rooted in reality.  Remember Sven Robinson?  Libby Davies?  Adrian Dix?  There are legions of those doofuses in that party (mind you, the Cons have Ryan Leef).  Vote for whoever you want but, if they are stupid, you have no idea what they will do.

“Well, I vote for moderation, compromise, enlightenment and good looks so that means Liberal.”

Admittedly the Liberals have played to the middle of the road most of the time.  I get that. But how ‘middle’ are you if you are corrupt?  How egalitarian are you if every contract is rigged?  How middle are you if you waffle on everything?  Don’t forget Ms Moderation, Canada has been mismanaged for decades and largely with a wishy washy, greedy Liberal at the helm.  Vote for whomever you want but very often the procrastinator is the only person on an issue that we know is wrong.

“Well, I am voting for the planet and Mother Nature and all things good.  So that means voting Green!”

Not really, Mr. Naive.  Greens are sweethearts.  I’ll give you that.  And Elizabeth May is the best MP ever to set foot in the House of Commons but don’t forget, she is alone.  OK, she has a turncoat for a stable mate but, essentially, the Greens are smaller than the aforementioned NDP’er, Tinkerbelle.  May simply represents our primal hopes and fears. We want the future to be rosy and we are afraid it won’t be if the old parties continue their scurrilous and wastrel ways.  And, of course, we are right but can Lizzie right that?  I don’t think so.

Based on results and history so far, the best leader in the race has been Harper.  NOT for anything he has promised or said out loud.  Not for the reasons he cites.  NOT for what he has done on purpose.  Harper is the best so far for one reason and one reason only: more than any Prime Minister before him, he has rejuvenated the voter to get out and express him/herself.  His legacy as a dictator, an oil-groupie, a mosquito on the international stage and as a bigot will pale next to the fact that he was so loathed by the Canadian public, they came out in record numbers to send him home.  I, for one, appreciate that.

Nice to see you all back in the voting booth.