This link was brought to my attention today. Essentially, it's the strategic wing of an apparently much broader than I thought movement to galvanize the "Anyone but Harper" vote. I'm... very ambiguous about this. First of all, it shines a big ol' beacon on everything I hate about our electoral system. The idea that you have to choose between voting for the person you think is best for the job and voting against the person you don't want the most in the job seems contrary to the whole "democracy" and freedom of choice thing, and it's argument number 1 in favour of adopting some form of a proportional reprsentation system. (The typical argument against proportional representation, btw, is that it creates minority governments. What is it we have now, again?) If it came right down to it, I don't know if I could follow voting in such a pragmatic fashion; it seems contrary to the idealism that voting is supposed to represent.
On the other hand, the part of me that is really suited to academia admires the movement in an abstract sense. As a social experiment, I'd love to see the result. People are basically counting on a common desire to keep Harper out of office to overwhelm individual partisan loyalties. If you follow this process and vote against your own party in your riding, you are counting on the voters in another riding to keep the pact and balance things out. The process also calls for a surrendering of autonomy and authority; if you're fully buying into this "anyone but Harper", you are surrending your vote and relying on their word (whoever 'they' are) that voting in the manner they direct is the superior method. Of course, arguably, that's what you're already doing by voting for anyone. And so we go in circles.
Finally, the pragmatic aspect of this movement overshadows the obvious truth that it is still an ideology. I respect that people feel this strongly about Harper and the potential future of Canada, and I largely agree with them. I've got a lot of respect for anyone who honestly feels passionate about their beliefs, and for someone to go to the lengths to provide such an exhaustive amount of information, there's got to be a lot of passion there.
Extra-finally, 'cause I thought of a new point, the whole situation strikes me as fundamentally Canadian. This just isn't a problem the two-party American system would face. (Unless you're supporting an independent candidate, in which case you're already part of the crazy fringe,and should thus move to Canada anyway.) Is it weird that this observation makes me feel strangely patriotic?
The whole argument is moot for me anyway. In my riding, I wouldn't even have to make the choice between the two types of votes, because the NDP candidate is the suggested recipient. And, as y'all know, I already voted. But if there's anyone out there who's still undecided, check out the site and post your opinion back here.
Showing posts with label election. Show all posts
Showing posts with label election. Show all posts
Monday, October 6, 2008
Friday, October 3, 2008
I wanted to come up with a pun that worked "Ballet" against "Ballot"
So I voted today. I decided to vote in my riding out west rather than _________, because I felt I was better versed in the issues there and the people involved.
And what a complex, ridiculous affair that voting turned into...
First, when you go to the Canada Elections website and look up the info for voting by special ballot, at the end of describing the procedure, it posts the location of the advanced polls nearest you rather than where need to actually go, which is the nearest elections Canada office. So first, I assumed I had to wait to vote until the advanced polling station opened, and then once I figured out the difference, I had to look up where the elections Canada office was. In terms of distance, I now had to travel another 8 km, which is considerable when your main method of transportation is a bicycle. Added to this, the website says you need to bring a form with you (as it turns out, you don't; they had many, many copies of the form at the office). I had the foresight to print off the form the last time I was at the university, but not the memory to bring the damned thing with me, so before I started the 8 km trek to elections canada, I needed to go on the 8 km there-and-back trip to the university to get the form. The general level of frustration was significantly increased by numerous errors on the elections canada website, and more than a few breaks to conduct a monologue on the subject of how I could be so stupid and why isn't this easier and I wished I lived in communist russia anyway.
At least it wasn't raining.
Once I was at the university, I had my first good thought of the day, and found the elections canada office closest to the university rather than to my apartment, and this sped things up considerably. And once I reached the office, (with only a minimal amount of getting lost) there were five people in front of me in line, but I got to move straight to the head, because I was the only one who had filled out the right form. The woman who processed my application was impressed that I knew my riding and my candidates ahead of time, but frankly, I think if I hadn't, I had no business voting to begin with.
I got my envelope and my ballot instructions on how to send it. Thus came the next moment of embaressment: I had no idea where to buy the stamp I needed. Apparently, right up until that moment of my life, my mother had bought every single stamp I ever used. I wondered around one of those super-size grocery stores, and finally asked the woman who ran the information/cigarettes/lottery ticket counter where I could get stamps. Answer: from her. So that worked out.
The mail-in ballot, in case anyone is wondering, consists of 4 parts: the ballot, the inner envelope, the outer envelope, and the other envelope. You write your candidate's name on the ballot, seal it in the inner envelope, seal the inner envelope in the outer envelope, sign and date the outer envelope, and place the outer envelope in the mailing envelope (thus making a mockery of the outer envelope designation, but never mind.). Then you fill in the address (I still have no idea whether this should have been the resident address, or the voting address), place the stamp you just bought from the nice woman on the front, and spend the next friggin' hour looking for a mailbox.
I'd like to say that all that effort makes you appreciate the significance of your vote that much more. It really doesn't. It does, however, drive home the importance of registering for a new voting location when you move so you get a regular voting card and you don't have to put up with all this... enjoyment. Although I'd do it all again if I had to; voting's part of the patriotic duty, folks. If you don't like it, go live in Communist Russia (you might need a time machine for that, but... eh.).
Everyone remember to go vote on the 14th, and if you want to follow in my adventurous footsteps, remember that the deadline to register to vote by special ballot is the 7th (you can mail it at any time, but the later you do, the less likely that it'll reach Ottawa in time to be counted.).
Later Days.
And what a complex, ridiculous affair that voting turned into...
First, when you go to the Canada Elections website and look up the info for voting by special ballot, at the end of describing the procedure, it posts the location of the advanced polls nearest you rather than where need to actually go, which is the nearest elections Canada office. So first, I assumed I had to wait to vote until the advanced polling station opened, and then once I figured out the difference, I had to look up where the elections Canada office was. In terms of distance, I now had to travel another 8 km, which is considerable when your main method of transportation is a bicycle. Added to this, the website says you need to bring a form with you (as it turns out, you don't; they had many, many copies of the form at the office). I had the foresight to print off the form the last time I was at the university, but not the memory to bring the damned thing with me, so before I started the 8 km trek to elections canada, I needed to go on the 8 km there-and-back trip to the university to get the form. The general level of frustration was significantly increased by numerous errors on the elections canada website, and more than a few breaks to conduct a monologue on the subject of how I could be so stupid and why isn't this easier and I wished I lived in communist russia anyway.
At least it wasn't raining.
Once I was at the university, I had my first good thought of the day, and found the elections canada office closest to the university rather than to my apartment, and this sped things up considerably. And once I reached the office, (with only a minimal amount of getting lost) there were five people in front of me in line, but I got to move straight to the head, because I was the only one who had filled out the right form. The woman who processed my application was impressed that I knew my riding and my candidates ahead of time, but frankly, I think if I hadn't, I had no business voting to begin with.
I got my envelope and my ballot instructions on how to send it. Thus came the next moment of embaressment: I had no idea where to buy the stamp I needed. Apparently, right up until that moment of my life, my mother had bought every single stamp I ever used. I wondered around one of those super-size grocery stores, and finally asked the woman who ran the information/cigarettes/lottery ticket counter where I could get stamps. Answer: from her. So that worked out.
The mail-in ballot, in case anyone is wondering, consists of 4 parts: the ballot, the inner envelope, the outer envelope, and the other envelope. You write your candidate's name on the ballot, seal it in the inner envelope, seal the inner envelope in the outer envelope, sign and date the outer envelope, and place the outer envelope in the mailing envelope (thus making a mockery of the outer envelope designation, but never mind.). Then you fill in the address (I still have no idea whether this should have been the resident address, or the voting address), place the stamp you just bought from the nice woman on the front, and spend the next friggin' hour looking for a mailbox.
I'd like to say that all that effort makes you appreciate the significance of your vote that much more. It really doesn't. It does, however, drive home the importance of registering for a new voting location when you move so you get a regular voting card and you don't have to put up with all this... enjoyment. Although I'd do it all again if I had to; voting's part of the patriotic duty, folks. If you don't like it, go live in Communist Russia (you might need a time machine for that, but... eh.).
Everyone remember to go vote on the 14th, and if you want to follow in my adventurous footsteps, remember that the deadline to register to vote by special ballot is the 7th (you can mail it at any time, but the later you do, the less likely that it'll reach Ottawa in time to be counted.).
Later Days.
Politics Talk. Worse, Canadian Politics Talk
I've noticed that my blogs have a tendency to creep towards "blessay" status (thank you, Stephen Fry; the chief difference between the blog and the blessay seems to be that the blessay assumes a great length, and is presumably more erudite. I can live with that.). Now, for readibility issues, I was considering moving towards shorter entries. That's not going to happen today. In fact, today's topic is so extensive that I'm splitting it up into two posts, so as to best keep my thoughts straight, or at least less crooked.
Have I mentioned that I'm Canadian? Well, consider this the mention then. I am Canadian, and our election is quietly gearing up for the 14th. I honestly hadn't done a lot of thinking about this election; it seems overshadowed by the one down south. Then I realised that this was exactly what was wanted; that by calling an election at this time, the Conservatives manage to slip under the radar and under public notice. (it's an uncharitable assumption on my part, but you don't want your name dragged through the mud, don't call an election before the date you promised to.) I don't like being manipulated, and I want better from my leaders. So today, I sat down and thought about the political parties.
I've already tipped my hand on what I think about the Conservatives. But accusations of shennanagins aside, take a look at their platform. The word that pops up again and again is "individual." (also notice that despite ferverent promises a few years back, the phrase "ban gay marriage" has mysteriously disappeared.) You can see their free market roots here. The basic Conservative stance is that it's the role of the government to allow the individual as much freedom as possible to do his or her own thing. And that's a good starting principle. It's a nice foundation. But it's not everything, or even the important thing.
Stripped of its niceties, this policy boils down to a sentiment that's not nice at all: look out for number one. Stop anything and everything that might intefere with the pursuit of me. I think we're better than that. I think that as a people, as Canadians, as members of the human race, we're better than that. And if we're not, we should be. And the only way we're going to get there is if we pursue not what's best for the individual but what's best for everyone. And I don't mean a blind pursuit where the one is sacrificed for the good of the many. I mean a constant discussion, even argument, from everyone involved, a never-ending state of definition and re-definition that keeps in mind the ultimate goal: help each other. That means more government, not less, more social programs, not more tax cuts. The Conservative stance is to provide (and strip down) just enough so a person can help his or herself; my stance is that greatest, most noble action is to do whatever we can to help each other.
So not voting for the Conservatives, then.
Next up: the Liberals. Here's their platform. (Really? You want to lead with your tradition of fiscal responsibility? Really?) The liberals are probably the most middle-of-the-road party Canada's got in terms of ideology. And that's what bugs me about them. I've always felt that if you had some sort of hypothetical knife that could slice open the liberal party and expose their core belief, all you'd find is a note that says "I'll believe whatever you want me to believe to get elected. And aren't the Conservatives scary?". "We're not them" may be a message that caters to their main strength, and they certainly don't bother me as much as the Conservatives and their actually existing ideology, but... it's not enough, not for me.
Finally, where the crux of my choice lies: the Green Party and the NDP. And I probably shouldn't be lumping them together, but, well, that's what the problem is. I checked up on a few forums that were discussing my home riding, and the general consensus is that the Conservatives would probably win, because the left vote was too divided. (Remember the good old days when it was the right vote that was divided? The REFOOOOOOOOORM party?) That seems to be the case nation-wide, and certainly the case in my own noggin. In terms of fundamental ideology, the big difference between the two seems to be the Green Party's rhetoric is intimately more bound up in environmental concerns, whereas the NDP's is more focused on anti-big business, which probably says more about their original roots than actual differences. So what are the differences? Well, there's this thing by former Green Party leader Joan Russow
which comes out in the NDP favour; she's against basically what she sees as a shift to the right in the party in terms of the military, GMFs, and other in what she sees as an attempt to make the party more mainstream by abandoning its original beliefs. And there's this page which seems to be arguing a different thing entirely, that the Green Party is working to transcend the notion of political spectrum, which is the sort of dichotomy-breaking thinking that I certainly approve of. (Although I wouldn't put too much faith in either of them; the creator of the latter page seems a bit sketchy and Russow certainly has an axe to grind.)
Usually, the tie-breaker for me in such cases is the individuals in the riding, but they stack up pretty evenly as well. So I went with the party I have more history with--maybe not the best rationale, I'll admit, but not an entirely unjustified one either. The NDP have deep roots with me; my parents have been heavily involved in the party for as long as I can remember, and while I respect the Green philosophy, I don't see anything they're offering that's so different as to warrant jumping ship.
So that's that off my chest. See you at the Conservative Majority in two weeks!
Later Days.
Have I mentioned that I'm Canadian? Well, consider this the mention then. I am Canadian, and our election is quietly gearing up for the 14th. I honestly hadn't done a lot of thinking about this election; it seems overshadowed by the one down south. Then I realised that this was exactly what was wanted; that by calling an election at this time, the Conservatives manage to slip under the radar and under public notice. (it's an uncharitable assumption on my part, but you don't want your name dragged through the mud, don't call an election before the date you promised to.) I don't like being manipulated, and I want better from my leaders. So today, I sat down and thought about the political parties.
I've already tipped my hand on what I think about the Conservatives. But accusations of shennanagins aside, take a look at their platform. The word that pops up again and again is "individual." (also notice that despite ferverent promises a few years back, the phrase "ban gay marriage" has mysteriously disappeared.) You can see their free market roots here. The basic Conservative stance is that it's the role of the government to allow the individual as much freedom as possible to do his or her own thing. And that's a good starting principle. It's a nice foundation. But it's not everything, or even the important thing.
Stripped of its niceties, this policy boils down to a sentiment that's not nice at all: look out for number one. Stop anything and everything that might intefere with the pursuit of me. I think we're better than that. I think that as a people, as Canadians, as members of the human race, we're better than that. And if we're not, we should be. And the only way we're going to get there is if we pursue not what's best for the individual but what's best for everyone. And I don't mean a blind pursuit where the one is sacrificed for the good of the many. I mean a constant discussion, even argument, from everyone involved, a never-ending state of definition and re-definition that keeps in mind the ultimate goal: help each other. That means more government, not less, more social programs, not more tax cuts. The Conservative stance is to provide (and strip down) just enough so a person can help his or herself; my stance is that greatest, most noble action is to do whatever we can to help each other.
So not voting for the Conservatives, then.
Next up: the Liberals. Here's their platform. (Really? You want to lead with your tradition of fiscal responsibility? Really?) The liberals are probably the most middle-of-the-road party Canada's got in terms of ideology. And that's what bugs me about them. I've always felt that if you had some sort of hypothetical knife that could slice open the liberal party and expose their core belief, all you'd find is a note that says "I'll believe whatever you want me to believe to get elected. And aren't the Conservatives scary?". "We're not them" may be a message that caters to their main strength, and they certainly don't bother me as much as the Conservatives and their actually existing ideology, but... it's not enough, not for me.
Finally, where the crux of my choice lies: the Green Party and the NDP. And I probably shouldn't be lumping them together, but, well, that's what the problem is. I checked up on a few forums that were discussing my home riding, and the general consensus is that the Conservatives would probably win, because the left vote was too divided. (Remember the good old days when it was the right vote that was divided? The REFOOOOOOOOORM party?) That seems to be the case nation-wide, and certainly the case in my own noggin. In terms of fundamental ideology, the big difference between the two seems to be the Green Party's rhetoric is intimately more bound up in environmental concerns, whereas the NDP's is more focused on anti-big business, which probably says more about their original roots than actual differences. So what are the differences? Well, there's this thing by former Green Party leader Joan Russow
which comes out in the NDP favour; she's against basically what she sees as a shift to the right in the party in terms of the military, GMFs, and other in what she sees as an attempt to make the party more mainstream by abandoning its original beliefs. And there's this page which seems to be arguing a different thing entirely, that the Green Party is working to transcend the notion of political spectrum, which is the sort of dichotomy-breaking thinking that I certainly approve of. (Although I wouldn't put too much faith in either of them; the creator of the latter page seems a bit sketchy and Russow certainly has an axe to grind.)
Usually, the tie-breaker for me in such cases is the individuals in the riding, but they stack up pretty evenly as well. So I went with the party I have more history with--maybe not the best rationale, I'll admit, but not an entirely unjustified one either. The NDP have deep roots with me; my parents have been heavily involved in the party for as long as I can remember, and while I respect the Green philosophy, I don't see anything they're offering that's so different as to warrant jumping ship.
So that's that off my chest. See you at the Conservative Majority in two weeks!
Later Days.
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