If you're living in Canada, you've still got time to vote. If you haven't done so yet, please do. I know that in our parliamentary system it often seems that our votes don't count. My riding is a prime example. David McGuinty, a Liberal, has held this riding for two terms. His brother, Dalton, is the premier of Ontario. Before David, John Manley held the riding for a very long time. It's a Liberal riding. It's a McGuinty riding.
However.
For every vote cast, the party that receives that vote gets $1.75 or close to it for funding. So, even if, like me, your vote seems like a whisper in a crowd of shouts (not that I have anything against David McGuinty; I actually think he is a very good MP and very effective in the House; it's just that I use my vote to support a party that is very effective in the House and has policies I consistently stand behind. However, if there was a chance that the Conservatives would take this riding I would definitely vote Liberal to save the riding from the Conservatives. And that my friends is called digression), there is in fact a point to voting. And when I'm sometimes wondering if anyone cares that I voted for some Carleton student who was clearly told to run for the NDP because the NDP will never win this riding, I think about people who never can vote, or vote under duress, such as what we saw in Zimbabwe earlier this year that absolutely turned my stomach. I don't have to sneak out a back door to hide who I voted for. I'm thankful for that. And so if my vote seems insignificant, I do it for those people who vote in fear and then still know that their vote isn't counted, that it didn't matter, because their voices are never heard.
Get out there.
2 comments:
In mourning this morning? I am, even though I knew it was comming. I guess we should be glad it's not a majority? Some silver lining.
Ugh. I feel this post was a tad idealistic. This morning I'm feeling that my vote doesn't really matter. Especially when half the country doesn't even bother to vote.
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