Politicky

As someone who lurves a good debate, I am having some fun with the recent political happenings here in the Great White North.  

Turns out that I don't agree with some of my good friends about the coalition government and the value that I feel it has in our political system.  I am not really all that happy that it has come down to the options we are now facing, because I think that the timing is disastrous.  But it has happened, and from what I have been reading, it is representative of what the majority of Canadians feel (which is the whole and entire point of this, isn't it??).  Not everybody is happy to see Harper facing the loss of the office of the PM.  But a lot of people are.  A lot of people, including myself, do not share his priorities.  That is not to say that I think he is a bad person or a bad politician.  I just don't agree with him.  

I am not a conservative (which if you have EVER met me should be totally obvious).  I never will be.  Are conservatives wrong?  No - they have the right to their opinions the same as everybody else.  But for some reason I feel like the people who don't support Harper are being ganged up on by those who do.  Like we are wrong in their minds. There is no right and wrong in politics.  There are opinions.  Every time you vote, you cast an opinion.  If you don't exercise your right to vote, you forfeit your opinion and, consequently, your right to bitch afterwards of you don't like the result. 

My Dad was a lobbyist for the latter portion of his career.  He spent a lot of time around politicians and spent a lot of time debating his position.  As a result, my brother and I are pretty good at expressing our opinion (just ask my ex-husband ... he almost never won an argument once I figured out his arguing style, the poor man) and we have a LOT of them (but I make a concerted effort never to force my opinions on people, and I hope I succeed).  Dad taught us that voting is an important part of both citizenship and adulthood. It was unforgivable to him to not vote, and I tend to agree.  Although I almost never see the person I voted for elected, I am always glad that I got that opportunity.  And I figure if I vote enough times, and debate my opinions clearly enough with people, maybe change will happen.  

... albeit slowly ......