Poll: Importance of Politics

I've voted in every federal Punch & Judy show convened to allow pick-pockets to work the crowd since '93, and I've been voting for the Green Party (or as near as I could when the Greens didn't run a candidate) since 2000.

I lost faith in the Green Party in '08 when its new leader Elizabeth May figuratively donned knee pads to cut deals with the Liberals in an effort to beat some Conservative candidates in a number of ridings.

This politically naive move cost the Greens their their only unique asset IMO: their credibility.

If I bother to vote again it will be to destroy my ballot in protest of Canada's first-past-the-post electoral system--or hopefully some LGBT rights-related issue instead.

 

I do not believe in the "hiring" stages of a democratic process, in other words, I do not see the importance of the election campaigns, all propaganda and unrealistic promises to me.

What I do believe in is the combined result of democracy and principle of the rule of law. It gives the people a right to voice complaint when our leaders are abusing their privileges or making inconsiderate decisions, and it also protects minorities against the tyranny of the majority so that we don't have mob rule.

 

Yes but you forget that the mainstream media portrays us as extreme liberals and trouble makers. Whatever we cry about during the campaign season is just mumbo jumbo to their ears, and the majority of the mainstream voters just go with whatever they click with. Like, for me for example, I click with the Liberals, so I always vote for them no matter what. It doesnt matter to me if its Stephen Harper or Ignatieff as prime minister, we have had a minority government and several elections in the past few years. It doesnt change a thing.

 

I will not vote NDP in the federal government because all they want to do is to tax tax spend spend Jack Layton should go before I consider them.. I thought that green party women, Elizabeth May? did a fine job in the televised debate. very impassionate, very logical woman, not ambitious for the sake of power. Too bad the green party did not field a rep in my district otherwise i would have voted them.

 

The problem with that is that then businesses will come up with all kinds of ways to avoid paying taxes, and the only ones that will be hurt are the individuals.

On a basic level, they will continue to more aggressively outsource jobs. On a higher level, businesses can often evade taxes by doing transactions in low-taxing countries and bringing in to our own country enough money to only pay their employees, which can then be reported as an expense, which is deducted from taxable income.

We have to accept that we can only pay or some but not other social programs and there are limitations. I am by no means a conservative or right wing person. But in my opinion, if you want to perfectly plan out a host of social programs that you can pay for, and control their impact on the economic development as a whole, then we have to say, here, let us develop a comprehensive strategic plan that will apply for the next 5 to 10 years, let us plan out our economy, areas/industries in which to invest, how much tax will be collected and what additional legislations must be passed in order to support it properly, and then we stick with it until the end.

See, this cannot happen in a democracy. Because there will be squabling in parliament and and basically people saying, ZOMG That is a socialist regime. But anyone knows that without a well thought out plan to accomplish a reasonable goal, and the willpower to follow it through completely and utterly, you can't achieve it. To hope otherwise would be unscientific and illogical.

So I rest my case that in our current political environment/temperature, we cannot really achieve what you are dreaming about.

 

So far as I've seen in my adolescence and young adulthood, government is stupid, corrupt, greedy and violent. As a result, I'm completely disillusioned with it at this point. I'm tired of red vs. blue. I don't support any of these people to have more governance over my life than I do.

Until someone runs that I actually support, I am not voting for any of these others.

However, I do believe in strong local communities with the ability to run themselves in self-sustaining ways. And I believe in egalitarian society.

Otherwise, I wash my hands of the lot of them.

 

it is illegal not to vote in my country, at either local, state, or federal level. Good system, imo.

 

First of all since I don't have a loc. given I'm speaking as an American. I'm with Maverick on this one, red and blue is all bs. The greed of money and power rules (this country anyway)...
I voted in 2008 mostly because I was pressured into it and because I just turned 18 and I could, that was back when I was stupid and thought that my vote mattered at all. If you are from the states you hear every election period about votes not being counted properly and tampered with, and that's just the tip of an enormous iceberg, the scarier part of this is "why is the news even telling us this?" because the news IS editted to tell us only specific things, believe it. The ugly truth is... well, I'm not going to get into details because it would take several hours and about 500K words to explain all the bs, but let's just say our country is going braindead thanks to the media, (do you know how many people pick candidates here based on just physical looks?!?!) who is ultimately ran by the red and blue ($$$$!) it's really a sad, and scary joke all in all if you ask me, but I'm kind of out there politically, I realize it lol.... that's just my view..
But yes, being that we are a minority, complete apathy probably isn't the best solution, but then I don't know what else to do I am busy with the rest of my lfie as it is...

 

I work in politics in Canada. I work for a politician. And I can say, that I believe he entered politics for the right reasons. He works hard to voice the views of his community in parliament and fights for what his community needs improved by the government. And frankly, I believe most politicians that I have had close encounters with are also in it for the right reasons. And, I know I will be attacked for saying this, but frankly, I don't know very many people that put in the hours a week that my boss does. He works Mon-Thurs at Parliament, in a city far away from his home and family, and then Friday-Sun (times depend on local events) in his home constituency. Not to mention the commute between the two locations.

As for democracy -- we are all taught in school that it is this fantastical system, near perfect, that the British gave to us. Well, I am not going to say democracy isn't the best option (because it is), but after working in politics it certainly does have its downfalls. Since my boss' job (an subsequently my job) depends on the roughly 70,000 voters in his constituency, I am required to spend a heck of a lot of time preparing a database of those who vote, and those who will vote for us, preparing fundraisers, political advertising, newspaper columns etc etc. Democracy (aka keeping the voters happy) is VERY time consuming (thankfully, Canada is not like America, and we have a spending limit, which limits the amount of effort I need to put into raising money).

When not fulfilling the requirements of democracy -- I feel like I can actually do my job. This includes preparing speeches, petitions etc which raise the concerns of our local public in parliament and outside. Responding to legitimate letters from locals about problems they have with government and attempting to fix them. And dealing with major issues, like protecting jobs from industries that without gov't intervention will close, bringing investment to our region, changing gov't laws and regulation for the better etc. Recently, I have spent intermittent time over the last year pushing the gov't to revise long-distance ambulance routes which due to a lot of red-tape has directly caused the deaths of a few in our local area and ambulance travel time can have serious negative affects on urgent care patients. It is this stuff, that I got into politics for, democracy is just a time-consuming necessary evil I have to live with, I guess.

And let me in on a little secret. For those that say it's pointless to vote and they don't vote. I thank you -- because you're one less person that we have to listen to. (Ok, maybe that was a bit flippant!)

You see all political offices, receive an official list of electors (people that voted in the last election) and we know, those are the people we need to care about, because they decide the future of our region. If you've never voted, you're not on the list, and we don't take you nearly as seriously as those that ARE on the list. Not to say that we won't bother responding, but frankly, we are understaffed and don't have the time to do everything, so listening to the views of non-voters are an easy group to cut out. When deciding on which issues I need to focus on, a voter or a group of voters with a problem, matters far for than a non-voters concerns. That might sound harsh, but think of it this way. When I work with a voter, they are essentially my supervisor, I depend on them to keep my job. So I know, if I do a crappy job for a voter, I risk losing their vote, or if I do a good job, I might gain or retain their vote. So when a non-voter comes along for help or with a concern, someone who refuses to evaluate me, wouldn't my time be better spent on the voter?

 

Frankly, I think the most important thing about democracy is information. Forcing people to vote when they wouldn't kindof just enforces a bunch of uninformed voting. (Oh yeah, I'm gonna vote for such-and-such because his commercial was funny.)

 

Of course, it's easy to get foolish people to vote...

 

While this discussion has turned into a discussion about the importance of voting, I strongly encourage you to re-read what I originally said. My point is that while voting is an inevitable process in determining which party is the ruler and which party is the opposition, the ideal of democracy itself is not about this. It is about a process of making Government a feedback loop, rather than a linear I/O system.

While the election is a tool to give feedback on Government performance, it happens at a frequency far too slow to do anything in the modern times when we are not limited by communication interval. The idea of using election as a means to gather feedback ought to be obsolete. What needs to happen is more participation during the non-election times as well, when decisions are being made. The time of the public hearing or consultation is the time for your voices to be heard. Election in this environment of mostly red vs. blue is simply becoming less important, especially in Canada at this moment in time when the Liberals can easily overthrow the government, the NDP and Bloc Quebecois are just dying to do that. But really? Do we want another election where its going to end up just the same way?

And that attitude from Fintan, where a representative only hears the voice of the constituents that voted, needs to stop, it is nonconductive to the operation of this country.

You have to perfectly understand that we are first and foremost a country governed by the "principal of fundamental justice" under the "rule of law" before it is ever a democracy. The law giveth democracy, and the law can taketh it away.

 

We can agree to disagree. Cheers.

 

I vote, and always will do. I think it's important to exercise my democratic right. I feel like there are so many people around the world who cannot have a say in the running of their country, that it would be innapropriate and disrespectful to those people to not do so here.

Equally i feel like one forfeits the right to complain about the state of things if you don't bother voting.

I know people will say how one vote doesn't make a difference. But its an ideological thing to me. If everyone who didn't bother voting, or didn't vote for who they really wanted, followed their ideals, then perhaps one vote would make a difference.

These are just my opinions, i'm aware that some people hold completely different views.