Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: actra, Amero, Bill C-61, Canadian election, canadian heritage, canadian politics, green shift, North American Union, stephen harper, strategic voting
Thank God *that’s* over…
Although I’m always up for the opportunity to have a “changing of the guard”, I’m relieved that the Canadian election is over. I prefer to pay attention to politics between elections. Seems like more things actually happen during this period. Just as some can’t understand my penchant for reading about politicians and policy on a daily basis, I can’t understand how people can get whipped into such a lather in such a short period of time – and yet, can’t sustain their interest in the issues outside of an election campaign.
And really… how many “issues” are actually debated throughout the course of the campaign?
How many of us could actually *explain* Dion’s Green Shift? (I’m not judging, I couldn’t do it…and if it weren’t for trying to stay focused… I’d make an argument right now that Dion himself can’t explain it)
How many pissed off artists could have actually named an Heritage Ministry program that was going to be affected by the $45-million cut to “The Arts” (which were announced a *year ago*) before they updated their Facebook statuses to quip their distaste for Harper’s “gala” comment. How many of these self-same artists could identify which of the programs to be on the chopping block were of Conservative origin, or carry-overs from previous Liberal administration attempts to hack away at their industry? I mean, if we’re going to get *strategic* with our voting (which, correct me if I’m wrong, implies a certain amount of thought going into the process of determining a “strategic” vote) – if we’re going to get *strategic*…
Shouldn’t there be a plan?
Call me “Crazy”, but… I’m reminded of the quote, “The best laid schemes of mice and men/ Go oft awry”. So… what if there are *no* plans being laid? What if we’re just pulling strategies out of our a**? I think we can safely assume that, if the “best laid” plans often end up in a clusterf***, you can be s*** sure that *no plans* will end up in the Mother of all clusterf***s.
The Mother of All Clusterf***s?!
YES! The Mother of All Clusterf***s. That being… another Harper Administration.
That being… *exactly* the opposite of A B C. Anything *But* Conservative?! Sorry… how about… Always Be Conservative. Anything But Change. Always Believe CNN. (I digress…)
There may be an argument in support of strategic voting, but it’s wrong. At the very least… it’s not “right”. It doesn’t work, as evidenced by the outcome of this most recent Canadian election. At this point, a thousand “if only such-and-such had occurred” arguments will not trump the “Harper *is* Prime Minister” theory. All apologies… (truly… he’s fast-tracking us to the North American Union folks…)
So Where Does This Leave Us?
I sincerely hope that all of the piss-and-vinegar that each Canadian citizen seemed to be willing to put on display in the form of a Facebook status, lawn sign, bumper sticker or TV show choice, doesn’t completely subside with the next four years of “the Devil you know” putting everyone to sleep with visions of Sugarplums and Jack Layton Dancing With The Stars in their heads.
This is my New Year’s Eve.
Elections are my X-mas season and I don’t dig X-mas. But it *is* a time of renewal and *that* I can dig.
My New Year’s resolutions are to:
- Remember that my union (ACTRA) supports Harper’s Bill C-61 (Canadian Copyright Act). At least… they support it enough to get it passed, and *then* argue for the changes that they want made… (trust me… more to come on *that* strategy…)
- Keep watching the economy slide towards a unified currency with the United States and Mexico as we all pretend that “no-one could have predicted this economic downturn”.
- Be thankful that I’m getting a little “long in the tooth” for draft age as we escalate our global conflicts and send more innocent and impressionable well-meaning youth off to fight bullshit wars for policies we’re not even able to effectively vote against.
- Not accept President Biden’s reasons for war against Iran/Afghanistan/Pakistan/Venezuela.
- Learn to play the saxophone.
I know for a fact that I’m gonna bail on at least *one* of those resolutions before the next election.
I’ll say it again…
We’re doomed. But at least we’ll have YouTube… and really… that’s not all *that* bad!
