It's time to go to the polls again...

...and I don't know what to do.



Really? Is it really going to matter if I do? Are there politicians serious about representing their constituents? about ensuring they make informed decisions about their future and the people they assign to bring it to fruition? Or is this simply a dog-and-pony show? a mere popularity contest, similar to that of our two main cola rivals? (coincidentally, our two major parties bear the same colours as each respective cola)

Leading up to our last national election on 23 January 2006 - when the Great White Knight, one Stephen Harper, rode the wave of Liberal discontent all the way into 24 Sussex Drive - I took it upon myself to send each candidate in my riding a short (initially lengthy) questionnaire to gauge where they stood on the various issues of which our national government might be responsible. Not surprisingly, the only response I received came from the one candidate with the least chance of winning, and, naturally, with the least to lose. I conducted the same exercise with our city candidates leading up to our electing a mayor and council on 13 November 2006, which yielded similar results.

Ontarians return to the polls next Wednesday, 10 October 2007, to (a) decide which persons will keep the chairs warm down at Queen's Park, and (b) decide whether or not our current means by which corporate lackeys end up in the Legislature. I had thoughts of repeating the exercise with my provincial candidates, but I don't know if I should even bother. Perhaps I'll do it for kicks during one of my breaks from studying.

That being said, the question remains: will I be a good little citizen, do as I'm told and shuffle off to the polling station? Apparently, our forefathers fought and died for my right to conduct this perfunctory exercise (while our elite reaped massive capital gains), and my refusal of said right would be akin to kicking dirt in their faces and joining the Nazi party (with whom our elite collaborated to reap massive capital gains). If casting my ballot is the means by which I let my voice be heard, why am I being told what to say? Why isn't my refusal as audible as my submission? Why, if we are not happy with any of the choices, are we not permitted to select "none"? Why can't I vote for "no one"?



Thank you.

My friends, contrary to the painstaking efforts by the elite to convince us otherwise with their elections and what-not, this is not a democracy - I realize my readers are already aware of this, but to those who might not be, I cannot stress this enough. The Mayor of Toronto has no power. The Premier of Ontario has no power. The Prime Minister of Canada has no power. The power lies in the hands of the likes of Magna, of SNC-Lavalin, of General Motors, General Electric and General Dynamics. These positions in government are but stepping stones to each official's favourite think tank.

We can reclaim the power, so long as we cease surrendering it. Alone, we're powerless, but, together, we are the power.

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"Sovereignty cannot be represented, for the same reason it cannot be alienated; its essence is the general will, and will cannot be represented - either it is the general will, or it is something else; there is no intermediate possibility. Thus the people's deputies are not, and could not be, its representatives; they are merely its agents; and they cannot decide anything finally. Any law which the people has not ratified in person is void; it is not law at all. The English people believes itself to be free; it is gravely mistaken; it is free only during the election of Members of Parliament; as soon as the Members are elected, the people is enslaved; it is nothing. In the brief moments of its freedom, the English people makes such a use of that freedom that it deserves to lose it."

- Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract, p. 141