EnMasse

[West Coast Tiger]

Well, federal election time is likely approaching again. Even Paul Wells has something to say about it. If you think I’m jumping the gun on this, let me remind my fellow Canadians that we are in a volatile minority situation with a wide assortment of somewhat alluring parties. But despite the many choices we have, Canada seems to get its collective head set on only two big vote chasers. Allow me to be more precise:

Canada is an amazing, diversified, and rich nation. It’s a pillar of diplomacy and humanity on the world stage (at least that’s what I like to believe). As a modern First World nation, it’s simply ripe with choice. The choices are simply endless! Canada IS a catch! But when it comes to choosing our political leaders and parties – and to that end, choosing the ever important course and direction of this great, rich, and responsible nation – we are, more or less, always forming a government with two major parties (the Liberals and Conservatives) pulling the strings and sweet talking us into submission. How in the world did that happen? For the record (and just in case you haven’t noticed), I think choosing our partners in life and our political parties are on a par (or at least are an analogy).

So, before we get wrapped up in all that pre-election courting again, let’s briefly recap the main singles:

On the right of the bar, we have our traditional and guarded Conservatives, or as I like to call them, The Cons – because that’s essentially what I think on the rare moments I listen to them speak. They’re an ambitious bunch of right wingers – always leaving me with the question, “Have I stepped inside a time machine and been hooked up on a blind date with the quintessential caveman?” No, the Cons aren’t really doing it for me. The Cons are the ‘party du jour’ at the moment – it’s a fleeting thing, I pray.

On the left of the bar, we have the unyielding New Democrat Party. They are, believe it or not, very available. You’ve probably heard of them, though many Canadians have avoided NDP wooing as if a vote for the NDP would make you instantly ‘un-cool’. And that’s a shame, but more on that in a moment.

In addition to these two (what I would call) ‘rival suitors’, Canada is blessed with three other large parties scattered all over the bar:.

One is the ever-popular Liberal Party of Canada – the unofficial ‘cool’ party that leans wholeheartedly left at one instant, and leans unswervingly right in the next moment, and leans left again, and, well… are you following me? Thus the popularity, I assume. The Liberal Party is the ultimate chameleonic cavalier. However, the Liberals are in a bit of a slump and nursing a broken heart and leader at the moment. This Liberal party just isn’t doing it for me either, to be totally honest. It just isn’t clear enough in its goals and lately the party leaves me with that feeling of: “Did someone just bamboozle my booty?” I think you can relate.

Next, we have The Green Party – a party of… well I’m still trying to figure them out, but they are there and they are, apparently, green. They tend to show up lightly on the radar screen during elections. But those Greens are moving up in the world and we must give credit where credit is due. They are enticing and even sprouting in my eyes, but still a little wet behind the ears.

And finally, we have the Bloc Québécois, a party that seems to be mainly concerned with Quebec more so than any other.part of the nation, but still manages to be a major player AND shaker on the Canadian political stage. However, the Bloc is somewhat unapproachable and long-distance things never work out for me anyway.

So, there you go: five large parties in Canada all promising us the universe. And what luck! On top of those five, we even have a bunch of smaller parties to choose from. It’s quite a selection. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that we have a considerably assorted potluck of parties to choose from. Granted, I WOULD NOT go so far as to say that we have la crème-de-la-crème of buffets. Still, not too bad, eh?

And yet, with all these choices we have, we still can’t seem to dump the two incorrigibles that I think break our hearts and trust the most. But there are plenty of eligible parties out there…

Take the NDP: Here’s a party that has done fairly well for several elections, as the results from elections from 1962-2006 show on Wikipedia . However, this particular party never seems to really obtain our affections. I honestly can’t understand how that happens considering that the NDP is aligned with many Canadians on many issues. At least that’s what I keep hearing. But perhaps the NDP IS more tightly aligned with most Canadians than we care to accept or acknowledge – the near-perfect match. Thus, the NDP is like that prospective partner who looks good on paper, wants desperately to prove his or her faithfulness and attentiveness, has virtually everything in common with us, but never gets a date. In essence, the NDP loves Canada, but many Canadians don’t love the NDP back. The NDP is simply the rejected fellow – the “nice guy” you shun because he’s the nice guy! But why do we continuously reject a party such as the NDP? Are we really so repulsed by or afraid of it? I’d have to say yes. As proof, I will offer up the following:

A quick search on Wikipedia can easily show the results of our elections dating back to 1867. Our list of elected leaders and parties reads like a dance card between the Cons and the Liberals. (Okay… the NDP haven’t been in the social scene for many of those years, but…) We might as well be stateside with results like that! We barely even mingle with the other eligible parties – nice or not. Are we suffering from some sort of ‘political love-hate relationship’, unable to break free from the same old good-for-nothings, and unwilling to flirt with something new? That’s not a healthy cycle, Canada.

I understand, though. With all the choices we have in the world today, sometimes we just get our hearts and heads stuck on one familiar thing. “Better the devil you know, than the devil you don’t know”, right? But like any cycle, it’s not going to change unless we make it change. And, in my opinion, constantly electing the same two parties into power is not really utilizing our power of choice to the fullest. Where’s the competition in this market? No wonder the talent pools and ideas never get any better! So I have to ask: How much do we really know about the perpetually neglected parties? And how much of what we hear and read is fact? Only you can answer question one. But I can take a brief shot at question two:

Since the NDP is roughly the equivalent of the un-cool, unpopular, and repeatedly rejected admirer, I think it might be a good example once again. Perhaps the characterizations and myths are what hold us back from voting NDP. It’s been repeatedly said to me that the NDP is far too fiscally irresponsible. I’ve heard folks say that the NDP would run the country into the ground with excess taxes and too many social services. That’s some truly amazing assumptions considering we’ve never really had a full taste of the NDP on the federal level. How do we even know exactly how they will perform as the top dog? When I visit the NDP's Issues Page, I get a whole different feel for how this party would treat the nation and that feeling contradicts these characterizations I’ve heard. The NDP seems responsible -- and rather family oriented. So, how come we never tune out the negative assumptions and give that party our number? Hell, we do it often enough for the Liberals and Conservatives no matter how many times they let us down!

At any rate, I’m not suggesting that the NDP or any other party holds the answers to our dreams – it’s a dishevelled potluck, remember, not an elegant buffet of choices – but how can they, or any other smaller party be any worse than the scandal-filled, fallen Liberals and the muzzled, old fashioned Cons? And just like finding the best healthy relationship in our personal lives, don’t we also owe it to our country to find the best party to look out for us at home? We still aren't there yet and that's what keeps bothering me.

Personally, I think we really need to re-evaluate our goals as a nation. What are we really looking for in a political party? And can we afford in the long term to ignore the parties we’ve always ignored? There could be something really good out there if we could just stop falling for the same old heartbreakers. And Canada really does need to stop this cycle. We need to start moving together in a direction that’s healthy for all of us. Besides, election time is coming and like it or not, we have to make a decision sooner or later. Perhaps it’s time for us to explore the possibilities now and throw caution and myths to the wind. As my mother always says, “Out with the old, and in with the new!” And as the old proverb goes: “Better late than never.”



_________________
~ Rational ravings from a relative stranger in a troubled paradise. ~

[thwap]

I thought this was a nice way of putting things. I would have been harsher in my characterizations of the cons and libs, but i've been told that i alienate would-be supporters.

But essentially, aside from few loud statements, the cons don't reflect Canadian values and the Libs only pretend to.
_________________
Man! I hate them fancy-lads!

[West Coast Tiger]

Thanks for the help Thwap!

He's such an awesome editor.
_________________
~ Rational ravings from a relative stranger in a troubled paradise. ~

[RP.]

Just playing along with your analogy, the NDP is like the nerdy, sensitive guy who whines about how chicks are mostly into jerks.

"I'd show them what a great guy I am if only they'd give me a chance!" he dreams.

No. No chance. Not yours.



(No nerd's feelings were hurt in making the above image)

[Rufus Polson]

[Corey]

[thwap]

My greatest fear is that the NDP is the great-sounding guy, who Ms. Canada finally notices, or maybe she was leery of him because he lived on the wrong side of the tracks or something, ... but then she started talking to him, realized he was great and that the LPC and CPC were completely shallow, manipulative thugs.

So she moved in with the NDP and he turned out to be just as abusive as the other two.

And the GPC was a write-off, lying in the weeds trying vainly to execute stock trades on a wind-powered laptop.


_________________
Man! I hate them fancy-lads!

[shavluk]

wait until dec 3 rd we may all go to the liberals
speaking for the ex BCMP ,,,
layton shouldnt be so rude to people he invites over

[Rufus Polson]

[Corey]

[Tehanu]

:confused: ... sounds to me like Rufus and Corey are saying very much the same thing.

And it's a good thing to talk about, even though it's thread drift. The issue of how men seem to be socially pressured into behaving in aggressive ways in order to be seen as attractive; and the preconception that sensitive, or nice, or introverted guys are not seen as attractive, which of course is a crock, and which says something pretty horrible about perceptions around straight relationships, doesn't it?

Then there's the other issue of certain men who have been rejected, who then take it out on women, either aggressively or passive-aggressively.

Now, I'm not a guy, but in my relationships with women I've bumped into a couple of these issues and have, indeed, found myself (to my great regret) once or twice reacting in a way that seems stereotypically guyish, if I can coin a word. Particularly, turning cold or pushing away women who were, I thought at the time, being far to dependent and clingy. Not so good, or honest.

[Corey]

[RP.]

[Rufus Polson]

Corey, apologies for misconstruing you--and perhaps RP. I wasn't frankly too thrilled with RP's post, which seemed to me to invoke a hostile and demeaning stereotype of the "nerdy, sensitive guy" and reinforce it with this picture of what appeared to be a total dickhead, which was apparently representative of "nerdy, sensitive guys". I didn't really massively like the political message either (the NDP is like a nerdy, sensitive guy, therefore the NDP is toast just like the nerds are). But it looked like basically just a joke (just joking, where's your sense of humour?) so I responded lightly.

So then it seemed as if you chimed in to reinforce/agree with RP's message, only being apparently serious. Already somewhat annoyed, I hit the roof. I see now that you weren't really saying what I thought you were, but looking at your post it's hard to tell how broadly the net is being cast--whether you're saying that there's a tiny subset of guys who don't deserve to be in the "sensitive nerd" category, or whether you're saying that "sensitive nerds" in general aren't *really* sensitive, just a bunch of whiners. You were concentrating on the phrase "who whines about how chicks are mostly into jerks" as a differentiator, where I saw it as, and assumed you were accepting it as, a smear to be applied to "sensitive nerds" in general. I'm not actually convinced that wasn't what RP was, nominally humorously, intending.

So my misconstruction of your intent released the bitterness of my persecuted youth--and there's no bitterness like teenage bitterness. Even when it's boiling to the surface after a lot of years.

[Corey]

From big-big-truck.com.

[TS.]

^ I have seen examples of people doing that far to many times. To behave like that really does represent the height of self-absorption.
_________________
"Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blind-folded fear." - Thomas Jefferson

[RP.]

[RP.]

But also, I thought the analogy was apt, for at least some NDP workers or supporters, who condescendingly believe that voters would give them a chance if only those voters were smart enough to realize that they want to support the NDP.

[leftcoastguy]

WCT

Good article - thanks for your perspective on things.

Cheers,
_________________
Thinking is so overrated.

[West Coast Tiger]

Thanks LCG.

Just to sum up my choice of analogy here:

I awoke in the middle of the night when I wrote this article. It's been bothering me for some time as to WHY the NDP still lurks in the shadows in terms of gaining any significant power. The analogy popped into my head... I view them as the underdogs in so many ways. And like a lot of great people I know, they have lots to offer, but really aren't given a proper chance (JUST ONCE!) to show us what they've got. That's disturbing to me as a lefty AND a Canadian. So the analogy stuck whether it's a good analogy or not -- it works for me, and it's an observation.

I do hope I didn't come off as condescending. That was never my intention. My intention was to say, "Hey Canada... Why do we give these other turkeys a chance when we have something that seems quite decent right in front of us?" It's important to really think about the choices we make during elections -- I'm sure we can all agree on that. And it's not always best to "go with what we know" as it leads to a pattern that isn't always good for us. I took that same philosophy and applied it in this article. Whether that was a good decision or not is really up to the reader. So, like the advice you might give to a friend, I chose to offer up my own brand of advice. It may not be the right, correct, or best analogy, but it's the one that stood out when I wrote the article. And anyway... this was my very first attempt EVER at writing an article. Thus, it is what it is.
_________________
~ Rational ravings from a relative stranger in a troubled paradise. ~

[Corey]

[West Coast Tiger]

[DSquared]

[thwap]

Essentially though, this article continues to resonate with me, because, whatever its faults (and there are many), the NDP should have been the first decent choice of voters.

The CPC is braindead and disgusting, and the Liberal Party of Canada is a lying, two-timing, arrogant prick.

Why Ontario's PC's are still politically viable is beyond me. I know there are a lot of stupid people out there (30% of any given society apparently) but I don't know how they can be that stupid and ignorant.

[TS.]

The phrase "mainstream media" springs to mind.
_________________
"Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blind-folded fear." - Thomas Jefferson

[thwap]

[leftcoastguy]

What percentage of potential voters actually give a rat's ass about politics - very few, I surmise.

A lot of people are in basic survival mode what with just trying to keep a roof over their heads, and food in their stomachs, and their kids in school so that they will have a better future. I actually think the poor are keep poor on purpose with the advantage for the establishment being that the poor don't have the time to focus on power issues in Canada, and how often they/we are manipulated. And the mainstream press with their screaming headline diversions play right into that. If you/we are constantly being stressed out, it is no wonder many of your/our decisions are against our best interests, because your/our judgment is clouded.

This is why the right wing parties are successful - they ofter up simplistic solutions to complex issues to voters who don't have, or don't take the time to dissect them.
_________________
Thinking is so overrated.