Gratitude Monday -- Election Edition

Today is the federal election and that means we get to vote.
It also means we get to not vote with impunity.
I am grateful for both.
I am happy I live in a land that has free and democratic elections. We have several parties to chose from and we get to mark out ballot in secret with no one telling us where the X goes.
It's what brave men and women fought and died for.
Equally important is the freedom to not vote without fear of reprisals. It is also what those brave men and women fought and died for.
It galls me no end that so many people exercise their right to not vote. If everyone voted I suspect many of our elections would have a far different outcome.
Who you vote for is your business, and if you chose not to vote that's your business, too.
But please, non-voters, keep in mind that someone in your constituency is voting right now for someone you don't like.
Why not reply in kind?

Gratitude Monday--Election Edition

This is only wild rose I want to see blooming in Alberta

Today is election day in Alberta. I am grateful I live in a country where I can vote without fear. 

That said, I do have fear this time. I am scared the Alberta Wildrose Party will take the helm of the province and send us reeling back in time a few decades.

Leader Danielle Smith is a smart woman who knows how to present herself and the party ideas. Some of them sound good on the superficial level. Give them some critical thought and we can see that white guys believe they speak for everyone and are listened to by everyone unlike those ethnic people, gays and lesbians do not need protection (and by inference do not deserve same) and that the jury is still out on climate change.

She will, however, balance the budget on the backs of the poor and the ill while patting us on the head and handing out $300 cheques.

But this is Gratitude Monday and I'm getting away from my point.

I am grateful that by tomorrow we'll probably have a viable Opposition in government for a change. And that means no matter who gets the nod from the voters there'll be others on the job to keep them reasonably honest.

I am grateful I live in a democracy, but I do wish more of us would use it.

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A Black and White Issue

 I've been honored again. Thank You.

The civic elections are coming. Next Monday voters across the province get to have their say about who runs their towns or cities, counties/municipal districts, and school boards.
I vote. I have always voted and I will continue to do so as long as I can mark an X.
For me it's a black and white issue. If you don't vote you don't get to complain about the results.

A black and white issue: no vote, no complaints

 It galls me no end that people refuse to cast a ballot. Some are lazy, others don't care, and still others invent some lame excuse about not knowing enough about the candidates or issues to make an informed choice.
You make me sick.
At least those whose excuse is apathy are honest about it. It still annoying, but they aren't hiding anything.
Here in Canada like many other free countries we're free to not vote without repercussions.
This brings up the other laughable point.
Non-voters who say they aren't casting a ballot because there's no one to vote for, ergo they claim not voting is a gesture of protest.
You sicken me almost as much as the people who hide behind ignorance.
If there were consequences, such as in Australia where voting is mandatory, then not voting is taking a stand. Here, it's an excuse for being lazy or apathetic.
I honestly don't care about school board. I have no hamster on that wheel. But I will still vote because it is my duty, because it is my right, and because they might do something with my tax money that I don't like and I will want to complain about it.
In some countries people risk their lives to vote.
Here, more than half of us can't be bothered.
I've wish each and every one of you apathetic excuses for citizens could spend five years in one of those countries. Maybe you'd appreciate what you've got.
On Monday move your lazy, apathetic carcasses, hold your noses, and make a mark for the candidate you believe in or the one who offends you the least.

My First Vote

Timeu Hall, site of the Timeu community picnic each year, dances, and a local polling station. I voted in my very first election here back in 1980. It was a federal election and the Conservatives under Joe Clark won lost. He was the candidate in my riding so voters like me had the honour of voting either directly for him or directly against him.
That was fun.
It made me feel as though I actually had a say in the matter. Any voter does, of course, but we only vote for the party here. The party selects the leader and you only vote for a party leader if you live in the riding he or she represents.

It could be that time of year again in Canadistan, your politically unstable banana republic at the top of the world.
The Liberals have pledged to bring down the Conservative minority government at their earliest convenience. An opposition party will need to shore up the government to stave off a fall election. That sort of unholy alliance never lasts. We'll get an election sooner or later anyway, but it appears that sooner is going to win.
Sigh.
I don't want one. I believe the majority of us feel the same. It will waste money and will likely render yet another Conservative minority government.
Is there a point?
No, but there's always a chance that the electorate will be so annoyed they'll come out in droves and elect a majority government of some stripe.
I have hope, but I also wonder if the current Devil we know is the better choice, at least for now.
All I can do is sharpen a mental pencil for a potential upcoming ballot mark.

ETA: My memory failed me earlier. I voted in 1980 for what I honestly believe was the first time, and in Clarke's riding. but he was the serving PM and lost that election. Sorry. Should have checked.

Clenching My Jaw For Democracy

These mountains along the David Thompson Highway are called Ex Coelis, "Out of the Clouds." They were named for the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion of the 3rd Brigade of the British 6th Airborne Division. These men jumped out of an airplane into a war zone so we could vote. I wonder how they'd feel knowing so many of us don't care?

Tuesday we take another trip to the ballot box to select our federal representatives for another few years.
I’m glad to do it. Too many people fought and died so I could take a few minutes to let the government know what I think of it.
Voting is a privilege and an obligation. It offends me how many of us are too lazy and too apathetic to care how we are governed.
I’ve have written in the past about how voting ought to be mandatory. I’ve given it a second thought. I am forced to clench my jaws and admit that as reprehensible as this is within the right to vote is the right to not vote.
We ignore the ballot at our peril, but we are free to do so.
I say to the non-voter that your choice is wrong. Apathy gives us the leadership we deserve.
You think your vote doesn’t count? If 40 percent of voters turn out, then it means that 60 per cent of us didn’t.
If those 60 percent made their mark, then the election would have a different outcome.
Maybe the governing party would be the same, but it might have a stronger majority. Or maybe the Opposition would be stronger and better equipped to keep the governing party in line.
Voter apathy disgusts me. It’s a slap in face to every man, woman, and child affected by the wars that were fought to ensure our right to cast a ballot for whomever we please.
Do you think you’re taking a stand by not voting?
You are not.
If we had mandatory voting and you refused, then you’d be making a statement. I could muster up some grudging respect for you.
As it is, all you’re doing is exercising your right in a free country to ignore how your country is run. You take no interest in it; therefore you have no right to complain.
I want nothing to do with you.
Non-voters disgust me.
No matter what the choices are in the voting booth, there is a choice. This is a democracy. Here’s what democracy means. I think many of us have forgotten.
The current government brought in a law calling for fixed election dates. Prime Minister Stephen Harper broke his own law to hold this election. He argued Parliament was stymied due to the antics of the Opposition.
I think he smelled blood in the water and proceeded to ensure matters stalled so he could call this election and win a majority.
If he’s willing to break his own law with a minority government, what fun will he have with a majority?
On Tuesday I will set my jaw, hold my nose, gird my loins, and mark my ballot for the party that’ll do the least damage to my country.
What will you do?

Gratitude Monday - What Have You Done For Them?

From left the peaks are Normandy, Ardennes, Rhine, Elbe. A fifth peak is named after Stan Waters.

This mountain is one of my favourite sights out west. It rises majestically above the Kootenay Plains near the Banff Park border. Its name, Ex Coelis, is Latin for “Out of the Clouds” and that was the motto of the First Canadian Parachute Battalion from WWII.

You can read more here, but for now let me say this. Today is the provincial election. We commonly have lousy voter turnouts and then people complain about the government we get.
The men of the First Canadian Parachute Battalion jumped out of a plane so we could keep the right to vote in a multi-party democracy.

What have you done for them?