PREDICTION: landslide.

If I try to imagine how long it has taken and at what cost it has come about, that a black citizen of America should rise to the post of POTUS, I feel
gutted.

They called him a socialist and a muslim – as if those were, by definition – bad things.  They called him a terrorist.  Forgive them, even if they know exactly what they’re doing…?  Well… free to ride a bicycle.  Free to run for president – and win.

The first thing I heard by way of a result was the Dixville notch count in New Hampshire.  It’s long been the tradition in the tiny precinct of Dixville to close the polls at 12 a.m. on Election Day and count the ballots.  Dixville and the nearby polling station in the town of Hart’s Location combine their electoral efforts and proudly proclaim a 100% voter turn-out since 1948.  The first voters in the country to release their results set the tone for later in the evening: 32 for Obama and 16 for McCain (2 write-in votes for Ross Perot and none for Ralph Nader).

I don’t know about you, but … I was worried about these dang things …!
YIKES!   (Then again, I’m a Canadian, so… you can imagine why I would.)

Barrack Hussain Obama is the president-elect of The United States of America.

Maybe, just maybe, the crowd is bullet-proof.

The real question and what remains to be seen is: HOW FREE is HE?

“The most powerful force possessed by the individual citizen is her own government… Government is the only organized mechanism that makes possible that level of shared disinterest known as the public good. Without this greater interest, the individual is reduced to a lesser, narrower being limited to immediate needs.” – John Ralston Saul

post mortem (two things):

Part 1-  Lowest Voter-turnout in Canadian History

42% of eligible voters did not cast a ballot.  Roughly TEN MILLION Canadians endowed with a right to civic engagement and democratic power over their own governance willfully abandoned their responsibility to take part in this federal election.  Saul comes right out with it and calls us “lesser, narrower being(s) limited to immediate needs”.  I think Saul would say we are all reduced to this when sufficient numbers abstain from the greater interest as a way of life.  I submit to you that 10 million is sufficient.

I’ll *try* to express myself on this matter with great compassion and tenderness. Clearly, these 10 million fellow citizens count many among them whom are such painfully delicate flowers of such a sensitive and simple nature that they cannot confront the nakedness of their individual and collective ass-wipery directly.

Whenever queried about their practice of enlightened disinterest they will say things like, ‘i was working late/i’m super-busy’ or ‘the candidates all suck’ and ‘their platforms are stoopid’ as well as ‘i wouldn’t feel right about voting cuz i don’t pay much attention to that stuff’.  Also revealing is this precious insight from a young fella crowing about his community-based activism and extra-rational voting philosophy, [I don't agree with everything any of them say, soooo ...].  wOw… wTf?

*Try* to understand this (speaking directly now to the cast of millions whose epic failure to combine reason with action has had such a profound influence on what has happened/is happening/will happen): listen up.  It is called RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT for a reason.  WE are responsible, by which I mean YOU and ME.

If you -think/believe/suspect/have heard/have a funny feeling- that Stephen Harper may not RULE OVER US with the best interests of all Canadians uppermost in his heart and mind, AND you did not vote, know this:

Not voting MEANS you voted for Harper.  Got it?  Good job, (@$$h*le).  Alienation is a tasty word you use to deflect the fact that you are a lazy, ignorant coward, without defence or logic, setting fire to your real and enviable responsibility to govern with the reasoned defiance of a two year old who has decided to forego potty-training, preferring to defecate in his pants instead.

If you are a woman, may I remind you – you were not given the right to vote in this country.  Your great-grandmothers had to organize and WORK for it.  They demanded it.  Inuit Canadians were barred from voting until 1953.  Registered Indians living on reservations were disqualified from voting UNLESS they were willing to give up their status as First Nations people until 1960.  Nice, eh?  When the seed of modern Canadian nationhood was first planted in 1867, the right to vote was restricted to some white men.  Think about that.  pssst!  Hint! Life isn’t always *fair*…sometimes you have to get up, get involved and HELP OUT!

Here’s what I think and I KNOW my Dad would agree 111%; Elizabeth May is a goddess of triumph and determination compared to you.  Stephan Dion is a warrior genius of principle and courage compared to you. YOU are the one who SUCKS! YOUR platform is STOOPID!  You should be ashamed of yourself. You’re wandering around with your head jammed so far up your own rectum, you cannot hear how ridiculous you sound.  It’s got to be a doozy of a feedback loop, I agree. Believe it or not – I even empathize. Snap out of it.

We honestly can’t say what we might accomplish with true democratic engagement and full voter participation.  Why?  We’ve never had the chance to try it, dammit!!  In the first place, this appalling state of affairs could be pinned on elistism, racism, sexism and enforced policies of genocide, exclusion and isolation as dictated by some white men.

What shall we say now, eh? What’s that? Oh. Awwwwwwwwwwwww… your vote ‘doesn’t count’? I’m bleeding for you, really. Hey! I’ve got an idea!  You could get your @$$ off the couch – and make it count!!

If you know how to read critically, it is your obligation to take charge of your education.  Visit a public library.  Google is your friend.  If you don’t know how to read critically, you need to learn.  It’s that simple.  When opportunities arise for you to participate in your government you will then be prepared and well-equipped to vote, at the very least.  You may even become inspired to make a deeper commitment to the process and progress of Canadian society by proposing and advancing clever solutions to the very real flaws in our first-past-the-post electoral system.

DO NOT – I repeat – do not wait for some fantastic assembly of what you deem *perfect candidates *(they being in complete harmonic accord with you in all things) before condescending from your lofty perch to join us in our silly little democratic election thingy.  How about a little co-operation and consensus building?  A few episodes of Sesame Street and a cursory study of the political structure of The Iroquois Confederacy may fill in the widest gaps for those who are less familiar with these practices. The general idea is that we each work toward identification with the basic welfare of our neighbours as equal to and in common with our own.  We work constructively and peaceably with others to build a society in which we are all free, ready, willing and able to be, love, learn, think, speak, share, pray, participate and contribute.  As this is not yet the case, we all have much work to do.

Part 2 – Quebec

We should plant a sugar maple for each Quebecer who voted for the Bloc Quebecois; thank you for voting against Harper.  The one federal party with the least avowed interest in the future of Canada delivered the most effective opposition to a Harper majority, thereby insuring that a future for Canada *may* still exist.

Oh, irony.

Oh, Canada;

Have I told you lately how much I love you?  You’re staggering around with election fever – again.  Your immune system is down, I’d say.  You need to get your head examined.  That good ol’ u.s. of a. has backed right up into your sinuses.  We’re all ‘muricans now, eh?

Do you want to see my ballot? I don’t *think* it’s illegal to show it to you …

The first thing you might notice is how simple it is – a list of names and party associations and an empty circle beside each one.  You use the pencil to indicate (by way of an X in the circle beside your choice) which person you’re willing to send off to opine/vote/abstain on your behalf regarding many serious legislative matters about which you remain generally ignorant/fixed in your opinion.

I won’t lie.  I have a pretty fixed opinion about our Prime Sinister Harper.  I’ve got a job for him if he’s interested, but it isn’t running the whole country.  There’s a midtown coffee hole just down the road that’s been closed for months now.  He could really manage the life out of it, I’d reckon.  He could pour smug all over people, squeeeeeeeze the future of our children for loose change and blame the homeless.  I’m just saying … he lacks a certain … mmm … human quality.

Oh, I don’t mean to suggest he isn’t human!  A great many of his apparent qualities are tragically common among human beings.  He’s also a liar.  We wouldn’t be under the weather like this if he wasn’t.  We’ve all noticed how the people who follow him around to do his bidding are generally forbidden to speak. These standard vows of silence might have something to do with what they say when they think no one’s listening! Innuendo over the body of a fallen soldier, drunken Indian bon mots and listeria jokes?!  He’s got no choice but to seal the yaps of his faithful, bumbling minions with his big cold clammy bully paws.  Those minions are drafty in the head!  They’ll say anything for a giggle! Inside voice… inside voice! Stay cozy in those soft, blue sweater-vests, Steve-o!  Kittens love them!

Sigh.  He’s just not my type and the company he keeps at work is rather disappointing; that’s all I’m saying.

Jack.  Layton, buddy, you’re just too Layton.  Yes, sure … there is an infinite chain of causation and truly, you and I and all else including Steve-o are but pearls of dew drying on meta-cosmic grass, but HEY!  If not for your madcap grasp at a few more straws in the House of Ill Repute, by which I mean that last rousing game of musical chairs we played way back in ’07 at YOUR behest – we *might not* be in this mess.  We *might never have had to* hear the words “Right Honourable Prime Minister” uttered in the same breath as Stephen Harper. The new strong?  Srsly?  Are you for real?  Thanks for … nothing,
Jack.

Mister Duceppe …? Neither you nor any of your Bloc Quebecois appear to be on my ballot … hmmm … Oh.  Right.  You are “the only party which can adequately represent the interests of Quebecers in Ottawa”, and, ultimately, the best way to achieve this is to move inexorably, glacially toward another carefully crafted question about leaving the country and taking “your land“ with you. Federal monies are spent to assist you in this mission.  Well, that’s just great.  Je me souviens aussi … good luck with that.

Elizabeth!  Lady May!  I love Polar Bears and people too!  I think you’re terrific.    It was quite interesting to watch Steve-o and Jack get all persnickety about you joining their little debate-thing and then didn’t you just steal the show and pull their little boyz club rug out from under ‘em, eh?  High-five, girlfriend!!!!  Anyway, you impress the heck out of me, but I’m not going to vote for the Green Party either.  Even if my choice doesn’t win the seat, their party still gets a buck-seventy-five with my vote on it. That would seem like a good reason to vote Green, but I’m going to do you one better and send you TEN bucks in a pretty, 100% recycled, home-made card.  Bob Rae is running in my riding.  Nobody on this ticket can beat his crazee piano-stylings.  Nobody.  Yer a maverick, Bob Rae, that’s what you are!!

Ok.  I’m ready now…

I did it.

I

voted

Liberal.

Why did I do it?  Bob Rae didn’t need my vote, right? Probably not, no. I did it for Stephan Dion. My Dad says he’s a jack@$$.  My Dad is a great guy who happens to get excited about politics and hockey games and whatnot.  Like father – like daughter, I guess.   I called my folks last week to make a last-ditched pitch for Mr. Dion but alas, alack, they had cast their ballots already in the advance poll.  So… I called Harper a “robot” and he called Dion a “jack@$$”, and that was that.  My mother reminded me not to ask questions if you don’t want to know the answers.

I don’t know if Dion could really live up to my wildest dreams about responsible government. I DO know that in my humble estimation, the other options will fall pretty short of that mark.  Some will fall short for lack of popular support, others for lack of evidence, smug-others for lack of empathy.

I like Dion’s way with English. I’m honoured by it. It is evidence of his struggle, willingness and determination to explain something to me – in his own words (which is more than I can say for some people …).
Grinding away at the fact that Dion speaks English as a second language is shallow and mean-spirited.  You might argue that as a teacher of English as a second language I have a special knack for sifting through a difficult accent.  Perhaps…

It’s called listening, people!  If you actually cared as deeply as you say you do, you would listen carefully, thoughtfully and critically to what the man has to say, investigate it and come to your own conclusions.  Your own conclusions should not be confused with those regurgitated by others; they should be real, bona fide conclusions of your very own based upon your own understanding of his thoughts and intentions as they are expressed by himself (as opposed to that version of him generated by his opponents and the media).

Lack of fluency couldn’t hold back the tough guy from Shawinigan, eh?  Ah.  Toughness.  You want a tough Prime Minister? Me?  I want a smart, thoughtful Prime Minister who will answer questions honestly and earnestly, be forthright about their priorities and solutions and an open minded partner in constructive communication and cooperative problem solving WITH the strength of her/his convictions.  Dare to dream, non?

I know what you’re thinking.  My vote makes no sense to you.  None but one of the people I’ve written about here are even on my ballot, and I haven’t said a word about the Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada!  Who or what the heck is the AAEV?!” Harper supporters should understand this better than anyone – your local Conservative stormtrooper M.P. isn’t the decider, Harper’s the decider!

Say what you will about the more enlightened disinterest of voting for one of the names on the list – I wasn’t born 18 years ago.  I’m no starry-eyed virgin voter.  I’ve done this a few times, and I know the score.

In a system where the head cheese has the divine right of kings to close debate and call for voting/abstention on a whim – I’ll cast my little scrap of sanctified paper for the one least likely to decapitate the exercise of my civil franchise, either by accident or ON PURPOSE.

I love you, Canada.  The polls just closed in my neck of the woods … I really don’t know how this whole thing is going to turn out.  I’m too scared to guess.  I’ll have one eye squeezed shut while peeking through a lot of fingers with the other eye, gawping at the spectacle, just like I do when I watch horror movies.

I hope I don’t have nightmares.