Leaders Debate

Various Canadian news outlets are talking about the fact the Canadian leader debate is scheduled at the same time as the US VP candidates debate, and how people are going to be sucked into the US debate because of people wanting to see if Sarah Palin can live up to the hype. For me, I want to see if any of the leaders of the Canadian political parties can live up to the hype. I'm still undecided about who I want to vote for, and this debate will hopefully go a long way in helping me make up my mind.

Dion has done nothing to impress me, but here's his chance to explain how the Green Shift will affect me in a positive way. Right now, I am buying into the Conservative ads that it will definitely increase my cost of living. I suspect the assessment is correct, at least for the first year or so, until the tax rebates/refunds kick in. I really need Dion to prove that preception wrong or distorted. I also need to see that Dion can provide anything resembling leadership, and that he can actually stand up to Harper on real issues with more than token disagreement. That would definitely lean me towards the red corner again.

Harper has to prove to me that the Conservative agenda isn't just about touting what a great guy he is, or what a horrible leader Dion is. For me, neither inspires confidence in a party. If you have a plan to sell, lay it out, highlight the good points, and let me decide. I also want to see that the Conservatives have more of a plan than "You can criticize us because the Liberals did this too". You were elected partly on a platform of being better than the Liberals in terms of accountability and leadership. Using the Liberals as a benchmark means that you aren't even aspiring to be better than the Liberals. Sell me on the notion that you have a plan for Canada, and that it is a plan that is good for me, and I am willing to vote blue.

Layton I can never bring myself to vote for, so when he's speaking, I will be chuckling at the great job the Air Farce will do in parodying him. I know, I know, I should cut him some slack, but the "We need someone better than Harper" ads don't lead me to the conclusion that the someone we needs is Jack Layton. And god forbid that Olivia Chow actually becomes Canada's first lady. I would have to stop eating dinner and watching the 6pm news at the same time.

That guy from Quebec isn't running any candidates in my riding, so when it's his turn, that would be a good time for me to go to the bathroom. The end result will likely be the same.

Finally, this is May's chance to prove that the Greens are ready for the big times. The focus of the debate will largely be on the economy, and it will be her chance to show me that the Green party isn't a one issue party. Like Harper, she needs to show me that she has a plan for Canada, and that it is a plan that is good for me. (The plan to increase the GST by 1% and give that money to cities (hopefully) to fund public transit and infrastructure is a good start). More importantly, she needs to show me that she can stand up to the other leaders, that she is able to receive the punches and give back just as much. (And please, no Republican-style Sarah Palin whining about sexism if you lose).

In the end, I suspect that the Liberal candidate in my riding will win by a huge margin, and my vote will count for naught in the grand scheme of Canadian politics, but then if we undecided always voted for who we thought was going to win, our vote is worth nothing.

On the lighter side, tonight was the season premier of The Mercer Report (or Rick Mercer Report), and this was the highlight of the show - the funniest and cutest political parody ad of all time:

Red Sheep, Blue Tribe

I normally stay away from writing about politics. I’ll give you two reasons.

• The noble reason: I like to think I’m above the fray, and I’m not interested enough to stay on top of every issue.

However, I don’t really consider this a political post. Because American politics is no longer political, it’s cultural.

For your consideration, here are a few snippets of so-called political discourse culled from Twitter in the last couple of days:

• “Michelle “Shaniqua” Obama Bin Laden Proven To Be A Racist”




• “Please keep coming back to Philadelphia, jackhole”(in reference to McCain)




• “…if Obama was white, he would have been laughed out of the primary runoff.”




• “Talking Barbie said ‘Math is Hard.’ Talking Caribou Barbie says ‘Foreign Policy is Hard.’”




• “…tell me Sarah Palin isn’t a pigf***er.”.

What is wrong with you people? What is wrong with all of us?

Why do we act like soccer hooligans when it comes to politics? There is no civility any more, no critical thinking. Both sides see in black and white. Listen to the pundits on TV or read the bloggers. They cannot say a single good word about someone on the other side. The “strategists” have an excuse; spin is their job. But for the rest of us: has our diet of sound bites made us so intellectually lazy that we just swallow all that?

Everyone on the left is a hippie, a terrorist, or an anarchist. Everyone on the right is evil, stupid, a hypocrite, or just plain out of touch. Are we that different from each other?

Or are we just preaching to our own choirs in our own echo chambers, having forgotten how to have intelligent discourse with someone who doesn’t think just like us? We hide in our red-state or blue-state tribes, and we have lost the ability to relate to people outside of our little boxes. The ideals of those on the other side are lunacy to us, because we don’t know anyone who thinks like that.

We surround ourselves with people who think like us, talk like us, look like us. Thanks to the Internet, if we don’t live near anyone just like us, we can still be friends with them on Facebook. We don’t have to talk to the neighbors next door if we don’t like their bumper sticker. But on Twitter, or the blogs, we can be pretty certain that we’re among “friends” and everyone’s going to agree with everything we say. If not, well, it’s easy to call people names with a keyboard.

So much for the marketplace of ideas.

I promised you two reasons I don’t like to write about politics, didn’t I?

• The honest reason: I’m afraid it would alienate me from 99 percent of the people in my tribe. I have a college degree. I write and I build Web sites. I use a Mac (and you can have it when you pry it from my cold, dead fingers). You tell me who I’m supposed to vote for.

The problem is, I have a few too many Red Tribe values that, as far as I can tell, aren’t shared by the leader of the Blue Tribe.

But you know what? Who cares?

In truth, I’d take either candidate at this point. All four people in the race are amazing human beings with admirable qualities: courage, dignity, wisdom, spunk. Or do you have so little faith in our political system that you think only one side of the machine turns out decent products? George Bush is the worst president ever. No wait, Bill Clinton was. No, I’m pretty sure it’s the next guy, whichever one it turns out to be.

Besides, this country is not a dictatorship (no, not even after the last eight years). One President does not make or break the country. People complain that it’s hard to get things done in Washington. It’s supposed to be hard. It’s why I hold my nose and cheer for the two-party system.

America needs people that stand up for the little guy and make sure everyone gets their fair shot at the dream. America also needs people that want the government to get out of the way so that individuals can achieve the dream.

I swear it’s a coincidence that I started writing this post on September 11, but God help us if it takes another one of those to put us all back on the same side of the fence.