Oorgo

Politics and arguing

I had an interesting conversation with Amber last night, interesting for me, but apparently very annoying and frustrating for her.

I like to argue. I like to contribute my opinions, counter others, break down theories and come up with new ones. It's not that I like to make people angry (in most cases), and it's not my intent to frustrate people so much they won't talk to me for awhile. It just happens sometimes. The combination of politics, myself and my mother-in-law are lethal in Ambers eyes.

Here's a summary of the argument/conversation:

I believe, and I've almost always believed, that when it comes around to election time you should vote for who you want to be in government. If you think that a candidate is going to uphold your values, and do good things for you, then vote for them right? Sounds logical.

Voting for a "Not in the top 2" is NOT throwing away your vote, but expressing your view of who should be running the place. Canada is NOT a bipartisan system like the United States, we have multiple parties, with multiple platforms, varying cultures and varying opinions.

The only time when this does not come into play is when a candidate you absolutely hate looks like they could be voted in, and you couldn't imagine them running the country/province. In this last case you would vote for whoever has the greatest chance of beating them. (I.E. the last federal election, when the Alliance party had following in the west, who wants those bible-thumping, abortion stopping, right-wing nuts governing them).

In the last example though, this turned out to not be the best route. It brought back in Jean Chretien for another round, and the money-wasting, do nothing, populace ignoring gov't reigned once more.

If the next election creates a minority government that would be great. It would make everyone in the government work harder, get those lazy backbenchers off their asses and give the underdogs a voice.

Posted by Oorgo at June 3, 2004 12:23 PM