Donald Trump - How the Same Thing is Going to Go Down in Canada

You've probably heard the remarks and rumours of Democrat-Americans coming to take refuge in Canada post-election, fleeing from the anarchy that will imminently ensue. Maybe this has made you cringe for your friends to the south or maybe you inwardly giggle or feel a little proud to be from a country that in so many ways stands for freedom, compassion, and equality. But from where I sit, I think those Americans might want to think twice about where they are fleeing to. And where do I sit, you ask...Well, I would like to sit somewhere where political discussion is vibrant, progressive, and productive. I would like sit somewhere where people can see through left and right ideologies to the common goals they hold—security, family, economy, and justice. But instead I find I am sitting smack dab in the middle of an ever-expanding no-mans-land between the political left and right in this country. The left is blind to the indignation of those around them and self-righteous to the point that they freely sling hateful comments like racist, bigot, and misogynist at every hint of disagreement, and the right feels taken advantage of, abused, unheard, and under-represented and eventually lashes out.

Wait a minute! Aren't these the exact same conditions that led to the rise of an (IMO) extremist for president?

When the dust settled after the recent American election and the votes were all counted, what became clear was that the divide between Republican and Democrat voters largely came down to one divide—rural and urban. And in this case, I'm going to surmise that rural Americans were tired of being left out of the political equation, they were angry at a leftist media that both misrepresented and under-represented them (those results sure did come as a surprise!), their social and economic situations were increasingly stressed, they favoured a less-talk-more-action approach, so to speak, and they wanted to be heard.

Canada, is this ringing any bells?

Trump didn't happen overnight, not even close. And he didn't happen because the people who voted for him were all racist, hater, hill-billies and, if you that’s what you think, you'd best take a careful look at your own biases. No. He happened because good people were not heard and cared for by the institution for many years, and people felt abused, and others felt righteous and wouldn't listen. Then both sides got angry and the political divide grew until conversation stopped and the divide was so great that only a revolution would change the situation. From that was born Donald Trump. The left in America bears as much responsibility for the unfortunate goings-on of this election as the right. And if we Canadians think we are in some way immune to this, we'd better wake up and smell the Tim Horton’s, because here's a few things happening right here at home...

Conservative voters and even the former prime minister endure all manners of hateful comments-- racist, hater, bigot, etc.--during the 2015 election campaign. The right feels abused.

Conversations regarding legislation, immigration, foreign policy, and military intervention degrade quickly to accusations of fear-mongering and racism. The right feels misunderstood.

The West resents years of crippling, liberal-dictated economic policies that see profits shipped eastwards while receiving little in return. The right feels taken advantage of.

The West feels angry when, finally in their hour of need, the once again left-dominated institution responds with a slap-in-the-face carbon tax tempered by a petulant pat on the head of meager assistance provided to their crippled economy. The West feels abandoned and further disenfranchised.

The leftist media... Well, where does one even start with that? Our major political parties completely at odds with it for obvious reasons, a shameless eastern and liberal bias that the west and conservatives are forced to not only endure but pay for. The left doesn't even see it. The right feel misrepresented.

The electoral system is set to perform at Ontario's whim time and time again while the rest of the country just hopes for the best. People feel powerless and voiceless.

Our newly elected prime minister touts his victory as 'hope' triumphing over 'fear'. Canadians applaud at this grossly over-simplified statement which glorifies political extremes and shames conservative voters in the process. The divide grows.

The right, tired of being on the wrong end of insults, policy, and government lashes out. The right moves further right. The left feels offended, righteous and sees this as further justification of their position and efforts. The left moves further left.

One might argue that these are just perceptions, biases, pieces of the picture—of course they are--but these feelings of resentment and righteousness are real and they are an ever-growing source of political polarity and discourse in this country.  This divisive reality persists and grows, little different from what happened in the United States. Canada’s disgruntled right feels angry and voiceless, and our left feels righteous. Conversation stops. Our own revolution is imminent. Wake up, Canada.

Here in Canada we have two choices, we  can either learn from the events that have transpired in the US or we can imminently repeat history. We can drop the insults, the regional discrimination, the political extremism on both sides, we can consider the follies of our electoral system and revise them, we can address the biases of our media, or we can damn well swallow whatever form of a bitter pill our own revolution will take because it will be no one's fault but our own. We can sling insults back and forth over the political fence while we nurse wounded egos and hurt feelings or we can have a damn conversation. 

There's No Such Thing as a 'Dance-Mom' (Or a 'Trump-Voter')

I’ve recently become a ‘dance-mom’. Whatever that means. In the past, this expression for me drummed up visions of a frantic, well-kept, uber-competitive woman wrapped up in living (or reliving) her dreams of being a prima ballerina through her daughter who grew up to have a corporate job, an eating disorder and OCD. Nonetheless, last September when I was preparing my daughter for her first dance class, I made sure to do an extra mid-day hairbrush (for BOTH of us), I bought every last item on the suggested rehearsal gear list, and I may even have run back into the house to exchange my sneakers for my spankiest pair of boots before we headed out. We arrived early (a feat in itself), and I’m embarrassed to say that I’m sure my daughter could sense my nerves even through her own excitement. I hustled her into the class, gave her my winning go-get-em smile and sat down to wait. I sat next to woman (who I noted was wearing sluppy, athletic pants and a pony tail) and we exchanged pleasantries and eventually got to talking about our mutual interest in the Bachelor series. She was nice enough, certainly not the embodiment of the stereotypical 'dance mom' I'd had in mind, but I remained convinced that, come recital day, her finely honed hair and makeup skills would make an appearance and her daughter would look just the part while my poor daughter would resemble a street performing clown.

Fast forward a few months, I'd made a few connections with other women outside the dance studio. One woman was a professor, another worked in retail. Several women stayed at home with their children, and others seemed to be making the mad dash every week to dance class from somewhere requiring a suit. Some wore make-up, others, like me, didn't. Some arrived at class looking like they'd rolled out of bed, others seemed pretty 'put-together'. It varied week-to-week. On several occasions, several of us commiserated about our fears about the dreaded 'recital makeup.' Some of us got along better than others, and, come recital day, I fudged my way through the hair and makeup component like everyone else and watched for two of the most heavenly minutes of my life while my daughter danced her first dance on stage in a ridiculous bee costume. I noted that I was not the only crying.

I learned something that day--a valuable secret that shouldn't be kept...

There's no such thing as a 'dance mom.' At least not the one I'd imagined. As far as I can tell, the only thing we really had in common was that we really loved our kids and wanted to see them do well. That's it. What a wonderful relief!

Perhaps you buy my premise... So what if I told you, there was no such thing as a 'Trump-voter'? At least not the image of the racist, bigoted, xenophobic jerk you hold in your head. Would you believe me? Because a few things have come to my attention recently. One is that a lot people are not shy to call conservative voters of America all manners of strong adjectives—racist, sexist, haters—I'm sure you could add a few to that list. Another is that people I would never in my wildest dreams have thought to back a man like that have come out in favour of him in one way or another. To say hearing these people come out in support of Donald Trump was a surprise to me is the understatement of the century. These people were compassionate, kind, and forward-thinking. They were people I believed to share the same values as me. How could they be 'Trump supporters'? This bothered me. Very much actually.

Now, I am very glad that I will not be casting a vote in the American election come November, not the least of which is that I can't stand the polarization of a two-party system. But I have realized something...if I did have to vote in that election, I would have to put a check mark beside Hillary Clinton's name. Would making that check mark make me a 'Hilliary-voter'? I suppose it would. But would it mean that mean I supported her position on partial-birth abortion? No, it would not. Would it mean I consider her political position and actions to be entirely cohesive? Nope. Would it mean I thought she was the best person to lead one of the most powerful countries in the western world? Again no. Being a 'Hilliary-voter' would tell you next to nothing about me or anything I stand for. It would not tell you anything about my values, my person-hood, or my ability to be compassionate. So, how wrong I have been to make these assumptions about 'Trump-supporters'!? What do I know about them and their values?

I think we would be fooling ourselves to think we are any different here in the great white north. Now this is going back a year or so, but it could be said that those who came out in support of Stephen Harper's government during the run up to 2015 election were on the receiving end of many of same nasty adjectives and assumptions as Trump's supporters. There were plenty hell-bent on demonizing the person-hood and values of those who dared to vote differently from them. It bothered me at the time and it bothers me now because I was of the belief that we were somehow immune to such extreme political polarization here in Canada, but we are not. Sadly we are not.

I remain passionately against polarization—whether it be political, ideological, social, or otherwise-- particularly when it is used as tool demonize one's opposition, and I have often wondered why we as a society gravitate so easily towards it. I was discussing this issue with a friend recently, and she put it this way, 'People like someone to blame, someone 'bad', so they feel like the problem is not with them.' I thought that was quite profound, and I have to say that I agree with her. Some people want to people want to blame ISIS. Others want to blame greedy corporations. People will call out 'Trump-supporters' for this, that, or the other thing. They will blame the government. They will blame the political left for their idealism or tarnish the political right with accusations of profit-over-people. People like someone to name, blame, and polarize as their opposition.

But I would like to put forth the challenge that whatever your notion of the opposition, whoever you like to blame—the evil corporations, the Big Bad Middle East, the Idealistic Left, the bigoted Trump supporter—these notions are not real. Or at least they are no more real than my ridiculous, narrow vision of a 'dance-mom.' And more than not being real, these notions are actually harmful. Just as I (ridiculously) pulled on my spanky boots to drop off my daughter for dance class, so others actually play up to these stereotypes which tend to be narrow, extremist, and baseless—not desirable qualities in the least. The problem is absolutely within ourselves and these notions we hold of our 'opponents.' If we could all just sit down outside a dance studio once a week for a year, we'd probably find we weren't in opposition at all--that we all valued family, health, security, and compassion much the same. What a wonderful relief that would be!

For Charlotte--A true moderate. Just one of your many amazing qualities. Love you.

Fear--The new F-word

You can’t turn your head these days without hearing some expression with the word ‘fear’ in it--fear-mongering, ‘the politics of fear’ or, my personal favorite, ‘hope over fear.’ Or failing that you hear someone accusing someone else of having the latest ‘phobia’-du-jour—Islamophobia, xenophobia, homophobia, you name it. If these expressions and accusations are to be believed, it would seem Canadian society is hopelessly plagued by spineless, ignorant, and hateful people only capable of making decisions based on these less-desirable characteristics. But you know what? I beg to differ. I don’t think that this the case at all. I think most Canadians are empathetic human beings capable of drawing rational conclusions, even if one doesn’t entirely agree with them. If there is one thing on this planet that I can’t stand, it is when people demonize their opposition. I’m not joking when I say this, not fear, is the thing wars are made of, and, in my humble opinion, that is exactly what the use of these fear-phrases intends. I’m talking about things like, ‘Oh, you don’t agree with my stance on immigration? You must be xenophobic’ or how voters in our past federal election who favored a more proactive approach to ISIS were labelled ‘fearful’ or (my favorite) blaming religion for using scare tactics to encourage bigotry, misogyny, homophobia and every other world problem. Oh, and if my facebook newsfeed is to be believed, this whole fear-slinging phenomenon is not limited to North America as I recently had the pleasure of hearing similar garb from British friends accusing their Brexit opposition of spreading propaganda and fear-mongering for this, that, or the other thing. Quite frankly, I’m sick of it for a few reasons…

#1 Information that does not support your position does not equate to fear-mongering (necessarily). Before I get into a rant, let me give some credit to the whole ‘fear’ thing. I don’t think it is disputable that people occasionally employ fear-tactics to sell things, sway votes, or otherwise push their agenda. It happens. I am just of the opinion that the phrase ‘fear-mongering’ is now a grossly overused default for anyone who wants to discredit information or people they disagree with. Sometimes information is just information, and, what’s more, I think the vast majority of the Canadian public is intelligent enough to know the difference.

#2 People make decisions out of fear all the time. Do you have a lock on your house? How about your car? You act out of fear. Do you avoid certain things, say delicious foods, because they might harm your health? You act out of fear. Maybe you live in a certain area of your city that you feel is ‘safer’ for your family. You act in fear. Why else would you spend a hundred thousand dollars more to live in the exact same house you could choose in a different area of town? Do you avoid tall grass for fear of ticks? Have you ever avoided a bad area of town at night or maybe chosen a less treacherous route over a shorter one? You act in fear. Do you look both ways when you cross the street or salt your steps when they get icy? You live in fear… I’m being ridiculous now? I can hear you thinking…that is just exercising reasonable caution to avoid catastrophe. Couldn’t agree with you more! People exercise reasonable caution when it comes the protection of their jobs, homes, property, children, communities, and countries ALL. THE. TIME. This does not make them fearful, ignorant or spineless or anything else.

#3 The surest way to spread fear is by talking about fear all the time. So if you really buy into all this fear business (which I don’t) and you actually desire to stop it…Stop talking about fear all the damn time! Is it too much to ask for you to inspire the masses with your fearless, hopeful ways without calling others down?

#4 The strongest fear operating in this country right now is the fear of being called fearful. Let’s be honest…the last thing anyone wants to be called is a coward. Nobody in their right mind wants to be called a racist, a bigot, or a ‘phobic’ of any kind, and ironically this unique brand fear is being spread by the fear-phobes themselves. People walk on eggshells, they skirt around vital issues, they turn blind eyes, they don’t say what they mean, they agree for the sake of keeping the peace, politicians are backed into corners, our society doesn’t act when it most needs to…all for what? To avoid being called fearful. That’s not something to be proud of.

Last but not least…

#5 The mentality that ‘if you’re not with me, you’re fearful’ (AKA against me) is absolute crap. Again, if you want to start a war, divide people into friends and enemies…this is absolutely the way to go about it. This is the roots of extremism--My way or the highway. With me or against me. Hope or fear, which do you choose? DON’T DO THIS STUFF. Between your way and my way—between hope and fear—are a million wonderful shades of grey where real conversation, compromise, and growth will thrive. Of course there are people out there that you will think are pretty crappy but, hey, they probably think you are pretty crappy too, and guess what, we are ALL invited to the conversation. There are even those that are worthy of some of the awful titles I’ve mentioned earlier, but, the majority of Canadians, in my opinion, tread with decency and compassion in the grey areas, and that is a good good thing. Don’t mess with it. Don’t back people into corners with this fear propaganda. Hope or fear? It is not one or the other. Stop talking like it is.

The Parliamentary Dust-up--It's not funny. But it is!!

Hey, I take government as seriously as the next person. They make our laws, they represent our country on an international stage, and their decisions have gravitas that ripple throughout our lives and the lives of our children. None of those small things. They have power to divide or unite people and entire nations, and their actions can even impact the entire planet. Government members are elected to be our individual voices as we navigate this country forward. Having said that...

With regards to yesterday's 'dust-up' in the House of Commons... Bahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahhahahahahahahahahahaa!

I cannot stop laughing! The silly antics of 'blocking' the conservative whip from taking his position so generously funded by our tax dollars...You're kidding, right? Our Prime Minister's patented I'm-going-to-solve-this-myself stride across the house...Tee hee! Matching father-son prime-ministerial F-bombs...Cute and classy! Our highest elected official manhandling another member of parliament...Shocking. The 'elbowing' of Ruth-Ellen Brousseau and the cries of 'molestation' and 'assault' from the NDP...So predictable. Tom Mulcair's face...Classic. The 'clearing of the benches' hockey-brawl style...Is this for real? The CBC floundering desperately and with futility to stand behind their man or, at the very least, sweep the whole thing under the rug. Oh CBC, what do I pay you for? Trudeau's initial bumbling attempts at apologizing sounding suspiciously like justifications for his actions. Giggle, giggle. The applause of his shocked liberal MP's, who would surely have crucified anyone else for the same actions, in response to those apologies...Chalk it up to mob mentality? The day-after sober apology delivered with all the contrived seriousness and bravado one would expect from our drama-teacher of a Prime Minister...I'm busting a gut. The cries of 'I told you so' and 'true colours' from Trudeau's critics who have been waiting for this opportunity which he so-very-generously served them on a silver platter with caviar and champagne...I couldn't script this stuff! The irony of Trudeau's government withdrawing M-6 after a time-wasting debacle that can only be blamed on the Prime Minister himself...Poetic justice. This. The culmination of what has been a rocky road paved by amateurs in the House of Commons these past 7 months...Hilarious! Droll! Are there any other words for 'funny?' Ahem. I will collect myself now.

Seriously, ahem, no seriously....

Nope, can't do it...

Bahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!

Expect More than 'Ordinary' from your Prime Minister

Do you want to hear something boring? Probably not, but hear me out. I am an ordinary person. I work a job lots of other people work. I fit it around our young family, I don't make gobs of money, and I am mostly ok with that. I occasionally kill time on my phone, putter around the yard on the weekend, frequent breakfast places with my besties, and I rarely miss my kids' dance classes, soccer practices, or show-and-tell days. Pretty ordinary and boring, right?

Now, what if I told you I was the top ranking official in a country of 30 million people? What if I told you I was elected to be in that position? What if I said I had invitations to attend the United Nations Climate Change Conference, the World Economic Forum, or the G7 Summit, just to name a few? What would you think if I told you my influence was paramount in making laws that affect millions of people's lives? That my voice is heard in everything from hostage negotiations to vital military operations to world trade agreements and international aid? Would you think that those things were a little out of the ordinary? Perhaps, you'd agree that a position such as mine was actually quite an extraordinary opportunity and responsibility.

It is for this reason I have to beg to differ with those who swoon at the 'ordinariness' of young Prime Minister Trudeau. In the 6 months since he became Prime Minister, I have heard his title intermingled repeatedly with the word 'selfies', endured hoards swooning over nothing-much-political to do with a certain State visit. I've heard the words 'dreamy, hot, pilf, dreamboat, sexy' and others associated with his name. I've listened to people praise Trudeau for not being 'an economic robot' and giving him 'kudos for maintaining his personal interests' outside of his position. I've tried in vain to block out Star Wars jokes, phrases like 'engage' (code for lip-service) and 'sunny ways' (code for ???), comments on Sophie’s fashion sense, and countless pictures of our prime minister hugging people. Over and over again, and in ways that baffle, I hear Justin Trudeau being praised for being ‘ordinary.’ While this may or may not be the doing of the PM himself, the media and public fascination with what is, in my humble opinion, as much celebrity as ordinary is deeply concerning.

My plea to the Canadian public is this…Wherever you sit on the political spectrum, expect more than ordinary from your prime minister. He is not your friend. He is not (nor should not) be known for his celebrity. He is not an actor (oh wait, he kind of is). He is not a poster-child for the cause of the week. No. He is, in significant ways, responsible for the futures of your children. He has it within his power to harm or heal people around the world in their hour of need. He can make or break livelihoods. His influence exceeds any ordinary person’s by a LOT. He has the means to make this country shine or be a laughing stock, and, as an elected official, he is accountable to you. Hold him to a standard of extraordinary.

Consider that the time spent on engaging in the ‘ordinary’ might be better spent brushing up on, say, human rights issues before meeting the President of the People’s Republic of China, or perhaps, ‘engaging’ in ANY way at all with the energy sector that has been vital to this country’s economy for decades. Maybe one might even find it offensive that our prime minister takes the time to pose for selfies with fans(?) while the fate of hostages rests on his shoulders. Our prime minister has countless extraordinary opportunities and responsibilities like these, the likes of which are not shared by an ordinary citizen, and for that… hold him to a standard of extraordinary.

The fascination with the ‘ordinariness’ of celebrities/public figures is by no means unique to our Prime Minister, but I respectfully ask that, in this case, that fascination not be allowed to overshadow the gravity of his position. Please think twice before choosing to read or share any materials that do not reflect our Prime Minister’s extraordinarily influential position or any relevant policies. I would argue that this misguided hype is far from benign, that it detracts real time from real issues, and that Canada’s position on the world stage has already been compromised by this phenomenon. Whatever you do, don’t expect (and don’t reflect) anything less than extraordinary from this man.

'A platitude is a platitude is a platitude'--Quotes from a young Canadian prime minister

platitude: noun  plat·i·tude  \ˈpla-tə-ˌtüd, -ˌtyüd\  a statement that expresses an idea that is not new

2:  a banal, trite, or stale remark [i]

Do you pay attention to Canadian politics? Is this ringing any bells? If not, this is probably your cue to stop reading, but if you're having as much trouble listening to the sweet nothings of our new prime minister as I am, I dedicate this to you--maybe a little humour will help to get you through the next four to eight years??? You know, hand on my heart, I have been trying to give the guy a chance. After all, we are stuck with him for the time being, but, try as I might, I just can’t get on board with (or hide from) the contrived, fluffy stuff he says. Now, of course, one can make the argument that everyone spouts a meaningless platitude now and again, and, god knows, if you dug around or followed me with a microphone and camera for several years, there would be some serious doozies, but, the thing is…there was no digging required! Our mainstream media is all over this stuff! They eat up every banal word, spin it to his glory, and regurgitate it at every possible juncture. To me it seems that they are in complete solidarity with our young prime minister in his mission to tag a one-liner that will go down in the history books right next to his father’s famed ‘state-in-bedroom’ quote.   Well, to his credit (and my chagrin), there is no shortage of material…

1. (World Economic Forum in Davos, January 2016) “My predecessor wanted you to know Canada for its resources. Well, I want you to know Canada for our resourcefulness.” Just imagine this scene down at the auction…‘Investors, don’t push and shove. Get your pocketbooks and paddles ready. We are now taking bids on… let me see, did I read this correctly? Yes. We are now taking bids on ‘resourcefulness’. I’ll start the bidding at 1$. Who’ll give me 1$...’

2. (When questioned on the gender parity of his newly appointed cabinet, November 2015) “Because it’s 2015.”  The left just loved this one! How clever of Mr. Trudeau!  In just 3 short words, he was able to put all gender inequality in politics to right! Bravo. Now, if I held any of those cabinet positions, that would have felt more like a petulant pat on the head to me, possibly like my position was more a reflection of his cheap political branding than my actual qualifications, but who’s counting anyway, in these days of…

3. “Sunny ways, my friends. Sunny ways.” (Victory speech a Liberal election headquarters, October 2015). Interestingly, this quote is so impactful that apparently it bears using twice! The original Mr. Sunshine is actually Sir Wilfred Laurier…and yet, it’s meaning in any sort of pragmatic sense is still so lost on me.

4. In that same speech on election night, Trudeau stressed that Canadians had voted for “change in this country. Real change.” As opposed the last election…where they voted for stagnancy and ‘fake change’??? Incidentally, hasn’t every change of government in this country’s 150 year history been a vote for change? I wonder how many times this largely meaningless notion has won someone an election? Probably, on average, once every 4 to 8 years. ‘Change’ could mean anything, and, like any decent platitude, it expresses a concept that is banal, trite, and certainly not new.

                                                                                                                                   

5. (Press conference in the immediate aftermath of Paris attacks) Prime Minister Trudeau promises that Canada will offer “all possible assistance.” This might not have been strictly a platitude if it hadn’t been a complete lie.

6. (On smoking weed as an MP, August 2013) “I used it. Maybe five or six times in my life.” And for this he made no apologies. Now, regardless of your position on marijuana, isn’t it at least significant that the would-be prime-minister not only broke a law, but a criminal one, and had the gall to flout it to the Canadian public? To me, that shows enormous disrespect. Should all Canadians pick and choose willy-nilly which criminal laws we choose to follow and then broadcast these sorts of things righteously and publicly?

7. “I don’t read the newspapers, I don’t watch the news. If something important happens, someone will tell me.” (February 2001) An oldie but a goldie! Why would an aspiring politician keep abreast of current events and make their own judgments about them when other people can do that for him? I can’t think of any reason.

8. (At the US state dinner with Barack Obama, March 2016) “Fear is easy. Friendship? Friendship takes work.” Bravo. Good point, I think. I am just wondering what that means as it applies to any sort of policy, agreement, or legislation, or are you referring to the ‘work’ it took to create a media circus centering around the notion of the ‘Trubama bromance’? You know, this gets me more than anything. In a collectively dire time for both countries, does it do us proud that nearly all the coffee talk and most news headlines on this event centered around celebrity and photo ops? If this is what the Canadian public wants, no wonder they didn’t like Harper.

9. This is the same speech where JT, in his patented over-emphatic and pregnated with painful pause- for-effect style, stated, “There is no relationship in the entire world quite like the Canada/US relationship.” Cue applause. The same could be said about the Norway/Sweden relationship, or Smarties and M&M’s for that matter. What’s your point? Platitudinous, as usual.

10. “Canada doesn’t need empty rhetoric on the Arctic.” (September 2015) BAM! I couldn’t have put it better myself! Canada doesn’t need empty rhetoric on anything actually. Except…that, of course we must! We have elected our highest ranking official to provide plenty of it after all…empty rhetoric, like…

11. “We beat fear with hope.” (Victory speech October 2015) Oh, I think I might have thrown up a little in my mouth, because all those conservative voters out there couldn’t possibly have cast their vote based on something concrete like, say, a solid economic platform. Nope, they were all just spineless and scared. And now we can get down to the serious business of enacting some ‘hope’ and ‘change’ legislation.

I guess this long and, by-no-means-comprehensive list just begs one question…With all the stuff this guy comes out with, how will the history books ever even choose just one quote or two will adequately encapsulate all the fine qualities of this dynamic, young leader? I know I am struggling ;-)

---

[i] "Platitude." Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2016.

Left is the New Right--Election behaviour and misbehaviour??

       Disclaimer:  There is a big fat post on the political fence with my name on it where I sit comfortably during election   time waiting to be pushed off in one direction or another.  The following is meant to encourage fair and productive voter behaviour whatever your affiliation.

Self-righteous, shaming, finger-pointing, backward-thinking--some fine qualities historically associated with the political right.  Did I say 'historically associated' as if that was past tense?  Wait a minute...Did I say 'political right'?  Because these are a few of the things I've seen this week...

Creepy?

What does that even mean?

 Well, there's my vote swayed.

No comment on this one.

And on my way to grocery store this morning...on a STOP sign, someone graffitied the word HARPER.  Yawn.

This is only a sampling of what I have seen this week, and, my sense of humour was generally in tact about it all until I came across a comment that summed up what I see as an emerging pattern in voter behaviour (or more accurately misbehaviour) over the past ten years or so, and that is this... "Is anyone out there a non-closeted Harper voter?"  This is not the first time I have heard the expression 'closeted' in relation to conservative votership, and I think I am right in assuming that the inference/suggestion here is that holding right wing political views is something one should be ashamed of or hide akin to the shame/hiding of one's homosexuality in years past.  I take great offense to this for a few reasons: One is that this is very insulting to the 40 odd percent of people that voted for a (ahem) conservative MAJORITY in the last election.  That's a LOT of people, and probably not many fit the archaic profile of a right-wing voter wearing a cowboy cat, carrying a gun, and driving a gas-guzzling SUV, though I will clarify that the last time I checked those are all totally legal and acceptable activities in this country. My guess is that plenty of these so-called 'closeted conservatives' are intelligent, contributing, even compassionate individuals with NOTHING to be ashamed of.  Two is that throwing around expressions like 'closeted conservative' is sadly to me a a sign that political left is simply taking over the self-righteousness and shaming that they have used to stereotype the right for so long, and I don't see that as desirable.  And worse than anything, I think there is some truth to this whole notion of 'closeted conservative'.  I think the outspoken self-righteous left have succeeded in marginalizing right wing voters to the point where they don't feel free express their opinions without fear of being cast as some awful environment-hating, capitalist, don't-care-about-the-poor-people asshole. And do you know how I know this?  Because I pride myself on always considering and representing both sides to a story... So this is the part where I'd like to post some less-than-desirable mud-slinging campaign material from the right, but you know what? I can't do that. Because I haven't seen any.  So either there are NO conservative voters out there (doubtful) or they have been silenced, and that is not cool and wholly undemocratic.

So the advice from my perch on the fence:

To the left: BE AN INTELLIGENT VOTER.  Get to know the candidates and the platforms.  And if you're taking part in this type of misbehaviour...Cool it with the shaming and the Harper-is-the-devil antics and the like.  Your opinion is WELCOME, but so is everyone else's.

To the right: BE AN INTELLIGENT VOTER. Get to know the candidates and the platforms.  And if you're so inclined, 'come out of the closet' with your conservative views. You are a valued citizen and your opinions are relevant and WELCOME.

I have often thought it a shame that political views be described as 'left' or 'right' as if opposites, but this a simply nomenclatural blunder that we get caught up in far too often. The reality is that most Canadians hold the same core values and goals dear--we want to look after our loved ones, we value health and education, we want to care for those less-fortunate at home and abroad, we value freedom and equality--I could go on and on.  The 'left' or the 'right' views we hold are simply a view as to the best way of achieving those goals.  They do not need to be as divisive as some would have you believe during the lead up to an election.  So, please, whatever your affiliation or lack therof, let that common ground guide your election behaviour into that which is intelligent, fair, and democratic.