Balderdash - Excuses Not to Vote

In less than a week, political pundits and others are going to start talking about the low numbers of Canadians who voted. They are going to suggest (again) that Canadians do not vote because (1) peoples' lives are so busy that polling times just do not work for them, (2) that people feel that their votes do not count and (3) that the public perception of politicians is that they are corrupt and/or disconnected from the voters. To all of that I want to cry balderdash!!!

Peoples' lives may be more complicated than they were half a century ago, but there are so many more options available as to when to vote than there used to be. Certainly, in my area advance polling stations were well advertised and in great locations. Those polls were open for 12 hours a day, for four days. It is hard to believe that someone, if they were going to be out of town on October 21, could not have found time during those four days - if they had wanted to. I remain unconvinced that letting people vote via the internet would significantly increase the percentage of voters.

There are, depending upon how you count them, two political parties who have a chance of forming the next government. There are also two other parties (plus the Bloc in Quebec) who appear to have a reasonable chance to act as power brokers in the case of a minority government. How many more choices does one need? Certainly, there are far more choices than there were in 1960. In this election it would appear that those who vote for the smaller parties could have a real influence on the outcome. Only someone completely ignorant of our political history would suggest that peoples' votes in 1960 counted for more than they are today.

Of course, there are corrupt politicians. Has there ever been a time when there have not been a few (or perhaps even more than a few) politicians who were more concerned with their power or their money? Following the lead of our sometimes corrupt first prime minister and his cronies, every government has made decisions that have benefited people that they knew and either liked or were obligated to. To assume that all 338 newly elected Members of Parliament are only there to serve all of the constituents, all of the time is naive at best. But they are only disconnected if we remain unengaged. The best counter to corrupt politicians is a large number of citizens who are engaged.

We, as Canadian citizens have ample opportunity to vote, there is, if anything too much information available to help us make out decisions and we are allowed to be as engaged as we choose to be.

If someone decides not to vote for any of the above reasons - that is on them. Blaming the system for not being perfect (and Lord knows it is far from that) is not a reason for not voting - it is an excuse.

Perhaps the media pundits should stop pandering to their laziness or apathy.