Public Service Announcement

[branwyn]

While gay rights is not the ONLY thing that I am considering as I weigh my vote in this upcoming election, it is easily the most important to me. I don't really follow politics except certain issues which really concern me (in both senses of that turn-of-phrase), and even those I don't follow actively, most of the time

Comments

[branwyn]

Well, and we already know that you and I have very different political views.

I would vote for corrupt Liberals (who will uphold and protect my rights as a human being regardless of my sexuality) over the most upstanding and innocent - which they are not, witness Brian Mulroney for a recent example - Progressive Conservatives (who will actively seek to remove previously granted and well-deserved steps towards my equal human rights BECAUSE of my sexuality), 100% of the time.

Which is not to say that I want the Liberals to win - I'm not impressed with the corruption and "comfortableness in power" of that party - but I'm also not convinced their recent transgressions have been any worse than any other party ever was, or will be in the future. The only difference is that they got caught and publicly exposed - and maybe that's about the biggest lesson they could learn. I've little doubt that the Conservatives and New Democrats did the same shit when last they were each in power but didn't get caught and so, really, who learned the lesson better? I don't think the argument that "the Liberals got caught doing something bad and need to be taught a lesson" is any more valid than "the PCs (NDPs) got away with doing something bad last time they were in power and should be rewarded by being re-elected in place of the Liberals".

And I realize that the second statement is being based on pure speculation but, you know what? I'm OK with that. I have great faith in my natural distrust and lack of respect for politicians.

Anyways, for me the ideal would be for neither PCs nor Liberals to be in power. However, the current political climate in this country is such that it's going to be one or the other... and the liberals are the lesser of two evils, IMHO. The big question in my my mind is whether voting NDP or Green (since Bloc doesn't run outside of Quebec, not that they'd get my vote anyways -- national unity is right up there with human rights IMHO) is a vote taken away from Liberals, which increases the advantage of the PCs, whose votership is more loyal since there is less competition for "right wing" votes than there is for "left wing" votes.

I'm likely to vote for whoever in my riding most closely matches my personal view of a good representative of my views, including party platform as well as personal stance, since that is the fair and true way of doing things, instead of hedging one's bets based on federal numbers... In all honesty I'm not that concerned on the federal level because in most regards it doesn't matter who's running this country, the effects on me and on the country and world in general are fairly minimal, all things considered; and as for the one issue I have some concern about, gay rights, I think it won't be as easy as Harper thinks to waltz in and take away rights that have already been granted, even with a PC majority.

B.

[potoroo]

Well, the Conservatives have been caught many times, they just have this ability to act as though nothing happened and, for some reason, the media goes along with it...they also tend to have better lawyers (kick backs to Mulroney etc.). NDP...it's hard to talk about 'corruption' on the national scale since they've never held the government. Worst most people can say is 'they spend too much' on a provincial level.

I'm scared of the Conservatives mainly because they have a history of saying one thing and doing another (including the Alliance and the Reform) as well as being lead by the creepiest man to enter politics. At least Stockwell Day was a laughing stock. Harper looks like he'd kill my dog and eat it in front of me.

[branwyn]

*hmms* My bad, for some reason I thought there had been an NDP Prime Minister in the early 80s. Silly lion!

B.

[cyberwuff]

Thanks for pointing me to that 'report card', although the marks were kind of to be expected. The sad thing is that people seem to be focused on the 'scandal' side of things and thinking along the lines of "we should get the Liberals out, these Conservatives are standing up to them!", not about the actual policies (particularly social policies) that the party itself represents. It's kind of a knee-jerk reaction to the whole thing.

The Liberals have been doing some dumb things - amongst some members - but obviously the Conservatives have been as well (smuggling charges against one candidate, deceptive advertising using newspaper quotes out of context, etc.). And it should be noted that the big "scandal" that's precipitated all this was done 10 years ago, by a few corrupt politians and government workers in the Liberal party. That does not mean suddenly "all Liberals today are corrupt", as Harper is trying to paint them.

Of course, I'd rather have the Greens or NDP have more say in government, but I'd put the Liberals as my third choice.

And you've mentioned the biggest problem - the feeling that the vote you want to make strengthens the party you want the least. And this issue is so dangerous because people then feel they have to vote strategically, and some people just decide not to vote at all. Our voter turnout rates are atrocious.

We need a better voting system, some system of proportional representation so we can vote with confidence that our ballot will go towards electing someone we want. That, I think, has to come first - as we're going to be stuck in this rut until then. Only the Green Party and NDP have really addressed this issue (the Liberals mentioned it 10 years ago, and never did anything about it). I think the only thing we can do given the current system is to vote for one of those parties. And get everyone we know who normally wouldn't vote energized and out to the polls to do the same.

Although the polls look scary, they don't consider regional strengths (which our voting system favors), and I think it unlikely that the Conservatives will be able to get many seats in Quebec - which would ensure a minority government. If we can get enough NDPs and (hopefully) a couple Greens elected, they may well hold the balance of power and push for electoral reform. Even the Liberals, should they lose power, should hopefully realize that if they don't join in, they stand to lose even more seats the next time (as our system tends to make a party in power have an advantage in staying in power).