Saturday, September 12, 2015

I, Young Canadian Non Voter? Not I


Last night I saw a story on the CBC National News regarding the problem of getting young people of voting-age engaged in electoral issues. For example: There's an upcoming Federal election here in Canada.

I don't understand why a newly-minted-eighteen-year-old has no interest in casting his or her ballot. "All politicians are crooks" or "It won't make a difference, anyway" are old and too easily dispensed. ("Somebody replied to my comment on Facebook!") Not long after I turned eighteen there was a nice, important election to test my newly-acquired super powers. And I was all too willing to give it a go. I voted for my local Liberal Party of Canada candidate, Ray Ramsay, father of Mike, a school chum of mine, but at the time it was seemingly all for nothing once the final results tallied up. Of course it wasn't all for nothing, and I never thought so then. As I've been prone to say on occasion, "they all add up"; meaning that one vote gets stacked on top of another. The candidate with the highest pile, if you'll pardon the expression, wins.

Progressive Conservative Party of Canada leader Joe Clark won, albeit with a "minority" government, the Federal election that spring of 1979. His reign as Canada's Prime Minister was short lived -- something about a non-confidence motion -- but Mr. Clark's ultimate positioning was engineered by people who got off their opinionated and whiny arses and voted. ("Bloody transit!") For some odd reason there's a polling station conveniently placed near you. We'll run for heart-stopping junk food anytime, and all the time, but we won't walk just once in a while to check off some boxes on a piece of paper. ("Where's the TV remote?! My show's starting!")

The joke here in regards to the paucity of the "young vote" today, of course, is that these chicks have a longer path to travel than do their parents or grandparents. A young man or woman protesting by not voting is nothing but upside-down logic. Forget "protest": Going through life, certainly in this blessed country of ours, in a daze and with almost total political disconnection, is unconscionable given the general state of affairs in the world today. I just look at what's happening with the current "refugee crisis" to appreciate this stable platform called Canada; for some bizarre and unexplainable reason I suddenly become, and stay, inspired and appreciative.

("I'm Dick Smyth.")

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