aftermath of an election

I am surprised that it has taken me so long to respond to the election results. I think it is in part because I have been politically depressed (and perhaps even afraid of being politically oppressed). In fact I have not felt this down since Mike Harris won the Ontario Provincial election in 1995. It is so tempting to throw up one's hands in defeat and despair. It would be so easy to say that there is nothing to be done; that we are lost forever as we rapidly descend into hell in the proverbial hand basket.

But there is something that can be done - more importantly there is something that must be done. We constantly seem to forget that those who are the right side of the political spectrum are smart people. They are planful. They develop strategies and stick to them. We of the left side of that someone hard to define spectrum need to do the same. The next election is only 4 years away. We must start today to plan for that election.

What does that mean? We need to reach out to and engage the 14 year olds so that they are ready and motivated to vote when their turn comes. It was great that so many (relatively speaking) university students got involved. But we need to get every student involved. It is not enough to say that we don't care who they vote for as long as they vote. We do care who they vote for - it is time we said so. The Right cleverly targets specific groups and nurtures a relationship with them. It provides a logic for why one should agree with and support the multi-national approach to government.

It is well past time the time that we can afford to make the assumption that the truth is self evident. It is clearly apparent that it is not. It is time for those of us who know and understand what is happening to do as Gramsci suggested. We intellectuals (using his definition of an intellectual) need to provide leaderships in the areas of education and dialogue.

It is time to act.