Why I will not be voting this year.

An open letter to the candidates for Member of Parliament, Scarborough Centre:

The last time around, I composed a list of questions for the candidates to answer and made my decision based on your responses. Some of you were able to take time out of your busy schedules to offer your thoughts, and for that, I am grateful. I was considering doing the same this year, but after much contemplation, decided against doing so, opting instead to draft this letter explaining why I will not be voting this year.

Since entering legal voting age, I've participated in three Municipal, three Provincial and three Federal elections. I never really knew why I was voting, or for whom; I just knew it was my civic duty to head over to the nearest polling station and cast my ballot. I always felt pressure to vote one way or the other, but didn't really know much about any of the candidates, except for their being politicians wanting my vote. The last Federal election, a colleague of mine at the time told me how he and his family were compiling a list of questions to ask their respective candidates and basing their decision on the responses they received - and then I saw the sign on his lawn, but that's beside the point - so I thought I would do the same, as it would afford me a great opportunity to be actively involved in our democratic process.

Sadly, I have decided this year to refrain from such practice, as I no longer see the point. Frankly, I've grown weary of all the petty jabs being thrown to and fro: it seems as though everyone would much rather kick dirt in her/his opponents' faces and seek to cast Canada in her/his own image than work together to build a beneficent society. I've grown weary of the seemingly endless stream of empty rhetoric, particularly from the two parties always in power; one who extols universal health care yet doesn't see fit to make it work, while sending us into war; the other calling for accountability yet acting as the most secretive government the likes of which I've ever known, culminating with an premature election call against which they so decried upon entry into office. What am I to do? Cast my vote for one of the other parties who have no chance of winning? And even if they did, would our Supreme Council of Billionaires allow them to govern?

I've noticed an alarming trend at all levels of government. It seems we elect a particular party, having become fed up with the incumbent party, only to do the same several years later, all the while not seeing much difference in our society, for we still have bills to pay and jobs at which to slave away, we still have dirty air and dirty water and bad food and bullets flying. I wonder if our governments have the power to do anything - I have a fairly good idea they take their marching orders from the wizard behind the curtain - or if this "democracy" is simply some fantastic ruse, we the people being the subject of some cruel joke. Suffice to say, I can no longer take seriously anything a politician says.

This letter isn't entirely doom and gloom, for I do have hope for a better future, though you might not like to hear it, for it will not involve our being duped into sending one of you to that posh office in Ottawa and the fat salary that comes with it. Not to worry, for you won't think anything of the personal perks you might be missing when you see a society functioning together. I have hope because I believe we can look out for one another; soon, we will see our government for the self-serving sideshow it really is and realize we have only each other on whom to rely. I wish to use this opportunity to extend the invitation to each of you to abandon your pursuit of this superficial mantle you call "Member of Parliament" and become an active member of the region you seek to represent in that ivory tower in Ottawa. As Oscar Wilde said, "We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars."

I may seem rather crazy to you - perhaps I am, though we're all pathological, but that's a matter for another discussion - but I am a proponent of "democracy" in the truest sense, meaning participation by the citizens, as opposed to this wanton surrender of power to those who end up serving themselves. The voter turnout statistics say it best: too many feel their vote will not change a thing, thus abstain from casting one. I feel this will change very soon, as there will come a time when the politicking of today will fall on deaf ears, when the spirit of the masses awakens and the people see the force behind change within themselves.

I wish each of you all the best in your pursuit, though I firmly believe you are capable of much more outside the arena you call "Politics".

With fond regards,

G.