Vote!

I remember how excited I was the first time I voted; finally taking part in an adult ritual. This was the first time I truly felt grown up, in a way that getting my driver's license didn't quite do. All of my friends voted, and we discussed the pros and cons of the various candidates. The then current leader of the NDP came and spoke at our high school, astonishing us all at how easily he trounced our history teacher in an exchange of barbed questions.

Since then I've never failed to vote at any election where I was qualified. Sometimes I voted for, and sometimes against, and a few times I held my nose while fervently wishing there was a box marked "none of the above". Down at a bedrock level I guess I believe that if you don't vote, you don't have a right to complain about the government we get.

Through it all, the percentage of people who vote has gradually diminished. Younger people in particular are noted for lower voting participation. There are many reasons given for this, some plausible, others less so. Perhaps the most common is their feeling that their vote doesn't matter; that nothing they do or say will affect the outcome.

I disagree on several fronts. The first is philosophical. Government is important, and taking part through voting was a hard-won right, especially for women, minorities, and the poor. I have the uncomfortable feeling that if we don't vote, we'll lose the privilege. At the very least, people should vote against the government. Turning the rascals out once in awhile at least slows the rest of them in their rush for the trough.If this check on government power goes away, we are well on the road to tyranny.

Plus, politicians only pay attention to the electorate during elections. Perhaps if they thought that more of us were watching, and were willing to vote against them, they'd behave better. As it is now, all they need to do is appeal to their core voter constituency to be elected, regardless of how asinine their platform is.

Most people are sensible, and see past the whacko one-issue candidates. But if those sensible people don't vote, the whackos will be choosing who runs the country. I certainly don't want people who only care about abortion, or a simplistic environmental view, or the death penalty, or the gun registry being the only ones to vote.

The most important reason to vote is money. The party you vote for will get $1.75 each year till the next election.That means if you would like to vote NDP because you believe in their policies (idealistic pie in the sky dreamer that you are), but don't actually vote because you know they aren't going to get elected, you now have a reason to mark that X. Assuming 4 years between elections, and your vote will get your party 7 dollars. Now multiply that by the millions of people that don't vote, and we're talking serious money.

Opposition parties can use that money to finance research on the issues of the day, advance their cause, and generally make life miserable for the government. I believe that active, knowledgeable opposition parties are essential to good government, and funding is more than half the battle.

Of all job descriptions, Politician probably has the worst reputation, even worse than used-car salesmen, priests, and lawyers. It's a pity that is should be so, since if the job has a terrible reputation, only people that don't have a reputation, or don't care if they lose the one they have, will take the job. That bodes ill for our country.

Yet one can see how they got that reputation. They've worked for it constantly, lying at every opportunity, even when it isn't required. They don't trust the electorate with the truth, and as a result, the electorate doesn't trust them. I'm at the point where if a politician tells me the sun is rising, I'll get a compass to check.

The biggest reform our system needs is an auditor with a capital A. This person or group of persons would have the authority to look at any government document at any time, attend any government meeting, investigate the financial connections and resources of any person on the government payroll, and be empowered to call in the RCMP when they discover financial improprieties. You'll note I said when. They wouldn't work for the Prime Minister's Office, but would report to Parliament as a whole, and to the electorate. Corruption thrives in secrecy, so I think exposing the financial sins of government to the people that pay the bills makes good sense. People caught abusing the trust of the electorate in a financial matter ought to be publicly shamed, sued for restoration and cut off from receiving any government money such as pensions, income tax refunds, and welfare till it's paid back in full, prevented from ever running for public office again, and face a real chance of going to some particularly unpleasant jail, say on Ellesmere Island.

The easiest single thing you can do to convince politicians that you care about what happens in government is to vote. Not voting sends the message you don't care what your government does, and if they get that idea they will do it to you. I can guarantee you won't like it. So vote, dammit!