My Political Soap Box

Happy New Year, blah blah blah.....Sorry I haven't posted in a while....blah blah blah....

Now that I have more time to waste, I am going to try to waste more of it catching up on my blogging. And to start off....I figured I woul dabble in, what tends to be, a somewhat touchy subject, but yet one that we should all be stewing over at this time.....POLITICS.

With the upcoming election and what not....lets talk voting. Apparently this is important...I get this feeling for many reasons, one of which being it was a big deal when they let us little, baby poppin- women and them there coloured folk do it....I was also given the impression that voting was a somewhat signigicant task after having the following conversation with my Dad:

Dad: I want you to vote
Amy: yeah ok
Dad: No, I WANT you to vote....I don't care who you vote for....just go out and mark something a piece of paper.
Amy: yeah...ok
Dad: Seriously...you can just go to Dal and do it.....so vote ok?
Amy: YEAH, OK!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok...so voting is important.....I GET IT. And from what I hear, a lot of people understand the importance of voting...HOWEVER...here is where I get a little 'fuzzy'....I don't think people really UNDERSTAND voting. I believe that's thanks to our electorial system, which seems to strip away the concept behind voting.

Let me explain....when I talk to people about the election, people tend to say the following:
- "I don't know who to vote for...I like the person in my riding, but I don't like the overall leader of that party." (note: this is a real problem)
Perhaps the stupidest things I've heard for an argument:
- "I will probably just vote for the majority, otherwise my vote won't really count."
- "I like the ideas behind the Green Party...but voting for them is like not voting at all, because they will never win."

Well of course they will never win with an attitude like that! To me, the WHOLE POINT of voting is to make a DIFFERENCE, and to let YOUR voice be heard....or at least that was the impression I was always under. It blows my mind how people think that 'well, since the Green party (or NDP, or whoever the fuck else is out there) will never really win, voting for them won't matter.' Let me ask you this....HOW EXACTLY DO YOU THINK PEOPLE DO WIN ELECTIONS?! Because people vote for them.....

I'm just going to come right out and say it.....I'm voting Green Party.....whatEVER. And here is why:
a) To me, they're the only ones that seem to be saying something different.
b) I see them as 'real people', not your typical politician who has selfish, political agenda to better serve their political party, rather than the people of our country as a whole.
c) They care more about getting their IDEAS out there, more than getting a bunch of seats....as long as their ideas can be picked up and used by another party, makes no real difference to them, becuase they care about outcomes, and not personal gain.
d) I like how their ideas and suggestions are long term oriented and not necessarily a quick fix...in some cases, things MIGHT have to get worse in order for them to get better and remain better.
e) if pot gets leagalized....well that's just a big bonus isn't it....and if any of those parties would make that happen....I'm going to guess it would be the 'green' party.

So I'm going to vote for who I want to see move forward and be given the chance to make a difference, not who the MAJORITY is going to vote for....because to me, that is defeating the whole purpose of MY vote! Maybe the Green party won't get enough votes to win.....but if we all start voting for who we WANT, and use OUR vote and not just make the vote that we think will make the MOST difference, but the BEST difference.........then maybe the Green party will at least make enough progress to be taken seriously, and be given more funding so that they can make themselves be heard more. The change can come sooner than we think if we all take our votes back from the majority.