Here Nor There

Its been a moderately productive few days for me, but nothing special from the ordinary. Getting some job applications in, getting some work done, getting some guee-tar played, some TV watched, and some blogs surfed.

Of course, with election day looming, the Canadian focus has been on the unfortunate surgence of Stephen Harper's Conservatives or more the worry about said rise. And now on a quick google search, apparently 'surgence' isn't a recognized word, yet 'resurgence' is, what a difference a two letter prefix makes. Nonetheless I've been made feel slightly guilty about my decision not to vote, even though in my riding the Liberal candidate is generally a runaway.

Now that's not to say I would vote Liberal given a completely free choice...but the way 'democracy' works these days is that you vote strategically to keep the beliefs you absolutely disagree with out of any important positions. And to me that includes being against those who see against free marital rights, personal rights, and for making the people spend more money on services at the cost of tax cuts for all. I'm sure there are plenty that disagree with this philosophy, but the fact remains.

In such a riding where there is a clear run-away I should probably be compelled to go out to the poll and vote for the local candidate who actually supports my ideals, or at the very least spoil the ballot reflecting my disapproval of the way each of the major parties have carried themselves, and perhaps I might. I still have 3 days to decide at least..

That's more than many a person can say around the world, and that's why we see such a large contingent of landed immigrants running for these positions. They respect, and are downright giddy about the right to vote for, discuss, debate, and even run for significant postions in a federal office. As much as people out there are complaining about the door to door knocking, or the media coverage, or the fact that this election probably shouldn't have occurred in the first place in the interest of saving taxpayer money in what will probably be another elected minority government, we should be proud as Canadians, and downright grateful that we actually have a relatively untainted say in who leads us.