(no subject)
Jan. 10th, 2006 01:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
felis_ultharusWell, the latest Ekos poll has the Conservatives at 39%. For those of you unfamiliar with the Canadian electoral system, this means that they now have enough to form a majority government.
We have the first-past-the-post (FPTP) system in this country -- which we share with the weakest democracies in the industrialized West (The US, Britain). A right-wing government under FPTP can win even if the majority vote farther to the left.
That was the whole purpose of the Unite-the-Right movement -- to manipulate this flaw in our democracy to serve the interests of fundamentalist Christians and the corporate world.
The gloves have to come off. I'm pleading with every Canadian citizen on my list to vote, and vote for some party other than the conservatives. Naturally, I'd prefer people to vote NDP, but I'm not picky. There are 7 days left to register to vote, if you're not already.
And if you know any Conservative voters (a statistically, Canadians on my list probably do), the time has come to argue with them. Too much is at stake to sacrifice your opinions for the sake of family togetherness or easy harmoney between friends.
If you're queer yourself, and out to them, remind them that your status as an equal citizen depends on this election, and any vote cast for Harper is a vote against you. And you can't help but take that personally, because it is personal.
If you're young, remind them that you're going to have to live in a world of ecological devestation because Harper and his equivalents in other nations ignored these kinds of threats.
If they're voting for Harper because of economic reasons, remind them that the last Conservative government and the last four conservative American presidents ballooned national debts and crashed economies -- right-wingers do not necessarily bring prosperity.
If they're against the Iraq war, remind them that Harper argued for it, and would have gotten us into that quagmire -- complete with the massive cost of sending the Canadian military overseas for years with no benefit to anyone.
If they want a "moral government," remind them that Harper changes his arguments every five minutes -- that his takeover of the Progressive Conservative Party was a machiavellian coup that involved electing a Trojan Horse candidate on the grounds that he would not merge the parties (Peter Mackay), then having Alliance members buy up PC memberships to win the vote and steal the name "Conservative Party."
In short, remind them there is no reason to vote Harper. At all.
We have the first-past-the-post (FPTP) system in this country -- which we share with the weakest democracies in the industrialized West (The US, Britain). A right-wing government under FPTP can win even if the majority vote farther to the left.
That was the whole purpose of the Unite-the-Right movement -- to manipulate this flaw in our democracy to serve the interests of fundamentalist Christians and the corporate world.
The gloves have to come off. I'm pleading with every Canadian citizen on my list to vote, and vote for some party other than the conservatives. Naturally, I'd prefer people to vote NDP, but I'm not picky. There are 7 days left to register to vote, if you're not already.
And if you know any Conservative voters (a statistically, Canadians on my list probably do), the time has come to argue with them. Too much is at stake to sacrifice your opinions for the sake of family togetherness or easy harmoney between friends.
If you're queer yourself, and out to them, remind them that your status as an equal citizen depends on this election, and any vote cast for Harper is a vote against you. And you can't help but take that personally, because it is personal.
If you're young, remind them that you're going to have to live in a world of ecological devestation because Harper and his equivalents in other nations ignored these kinds of threats.
If they're voting for Harper because of economic reasons, remind them that the last Conservative government and the last four conservative American presidents ballooned national debts and crashed economies -- right-wingers do not necessarily bring prosperity.
If they're against the Iraq war, remind them that Harper argued for it, and would have gotten us into that quagmire -- complete with the massive cost of sending the Canadian military overseas for years with no benefit to anyone.
If they want a "moral government," remind them that Harper changes his arguments every five minutes -- that his takeover of the Progressive Conservative Party was a machiavellian coup that involved electing a Trojan Horse candidate on the grounds that he would not merge the parties (Peter Mackay), then having Alliance members buy up PC memberships to win the vote and steal the name "Conservative Party."
In short, remind them there is no reason to vote Harper. At all.
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(no subject)
Date: 2006-01-10 12:59 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-01-10 03:35 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-01-10 01:18 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-01-10 03:37 pm (UTC)In the 1993 election, no poll predicted the wiping out of the Progressive Conservatives. Last election, many were predicting a Conservative majority government.
Perhaps their vote is so concentrated they can't take the whole country. Or perhaps many Conservative voters are too illiterate to fill out a ballot?
(no subject)
Date: 2006-01-10 02:55 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-01-10 03:40 pm (UTC)Many people believe he's just a fiscal conservative. So's Martin. If you think they're the same, and you also believe that Martin is corrupt, and doesn't represent Western Canada, then Harper doesn't look so bad.
The bubble has to be burst. The illusion has to be torn away. People who vote for Harper have to know he's as corrupt as corrupt as Martin, and that he's also an extreme social conservative. They have to be forced to view the reality, and they have to made to realize that reality could have consequences for the people they love.