Winds of change...

Had an exchange with an American friend, and was surprised how differently we see certain things. Then on Oprah she did her whole show on voting. For some reason this brought tears to my eyes… When I saw these new citizens claiming their right to vote it touched me. As I was telling my American friend, just before we left for vacation Canada was choosing its Prime Minister. The same man was re-elected, but with (again) a minority government, which was what he had in the first place. I’m really not politically inclined, we rarely talk politics at home, I don’t care for it. But I do vote. Since I’ve been allowed to vote I’ve been doing it. I very soon realised that most of the time I wasn’t voting for someone, but really more against someone else. Reading blogs, I also came to the conclusion that many of us feel the same; we’re voting against rather than for. It’s sad.

I’ve often wondered why they don’t tally the votes that are void on purpose. I’ve often done that. I use my right to vote, because that’s an acquired right, and a valuable one, which I wish to exercise, but I don’t want to choose the lesser of two evils, so I cancelled my ballot by crossing every little boxes. I rather waste my vote that way than choose someone I don’t want representing me. This past election, I actually voted for someone, but with the intent of that vote to be against someone else. I heard a journalist last week say: “Harper got the message that we don’t really want him there (minority government), and Dion got the message that we really don’t want him there.” Imagine if the void or cancelled votes were calculated, I wonder what those results would tell.

Maybe because of my lack of political juices, I’ve never really felt excited or concerned about upcoming elections. Some might think I’m stupid, but I would rather say that I deal with things I can handle, respect and change. My vote does count, but I don’t decide and that’s what really matters. I’ve been told so many times that if you don’t vote you can’t complain; I do agree but also I think the fact that I pay taxes also gives me the right to bitch. Our friends from Zurich told us how their system works. It is so different. It is REALLY based on democracy. They vote on everything! They feel like they are being heard. I don’t really feel this way.

I can only hope that all my American friends who voted for Obama in the hopes of changes get to see their wishes come true. Good luck with that! Anyway, can’t be much worst can it?...