I had the chance, as a citizen of 'Duel', to vote in the last US election. I ended up voting in my grandfathers state, Ohio, so there is little doubt that the republican counters took one look at the Canadian return address, and flushed that ballot so far out to sea it's currently a grossly scribbled Atlantian's grocery list. Nevertheless, I am a consummate voter. In fact, I will never forget the only time in my adult life when I WASN'T able to vote, which was after coming home from Japan. I arrived home 2 days before the last general election, so I didn't bother to vote abroad because I was already registered at home, and would actually be there for the big shebang! Except, I was in Vancouver, so I figured, no problem, I will go to North Vancouver, which as a riding covers over 400 square kilometers, including my dingy provincial town, and does the awesome job of representing the simultaneous political interests of both Donkey Punchers and Retired Yuppy Douche-bags alike.
Our MP was convicted of 200'000 dollars worth of fraud almost 6 months ago, and goes about his business of representing the masses like nothing happened because government has poured so much money in the Olympics that it can't afford a by-election; but that is a rant for another time. In any case, I went the mall to vote with all the other zombies, only to be told that even though I was in technically in my riding, I had to vote at my assigned polling station, and no, I couldn't just re-register.
I felt like I had been stabbed right in the democracy (which anatomically is located behind and to the left of the spleen).
Then there was the indignity of seeing Harper's satan-crusted lips curved into a fanatically grin as he won a minority government that I COULD HAVE PREVENTED IF ONLY THEY LET MY VOTE IN!
Still, for an age where democracy is sooooooooooooo threatened, it is ironic that political participation is the easiest as it has ever been. I am the member of countless groups who email me anytime there is something fishy going down, and all I have to do is sign the pre-fab letter, add my own personal statement of disgust, and send it off.
They even send me "thank you for taking action" replies that make my chest swell with righteous pride, though it could be partly acid-reflux.
But I am always bothered by the sense that this isn't really what political participation is all about. Both Lenin and Gandhi would certainly agree.
Real political action has a certain element of sweaty masses marking in the streets and maltov cocktails to it that modern democracy is sorely lacking. The teamsters knew that if you wanted to stop the corporate bastards from laying off the union guys and hiring scabs for half the wages, the best way to stop them was to head down to the dock and burn their warehouses to the ground, not write a snivelling, annoyed letter to their MP.
In our present model of democracy, we seem to have forgotten that elected officials are not direct conduits from our individual will to the power of parliment. No one speaks for us but ourselves, and our responsibility for our fate and future lies in our ability to take action by ourselves, not in our ability to break out the laptop and pass the buck.
So I have taken "real" action, in the form of a petition against bill C-51, the anti-naturopathy bill that has, in it's wording, the capacity to make garlic illegal (for more info, go to www.stopc51.ca)
It took exactly 10 minutes to put the thing together and distribute it to five different stores. But now, I'm RESPONSIBLE FOR DEMOCRACY. I almost chickened out when I paused to consider that having collected all these signatures, I would actually have to record them and mail them off, and Oh, the postage (swoon). Worse than that, I would have, in my butterfingers, the political will of the masses which they fully expected me to forward to higher powers. But this feels good, like good sweet, goodness.
So, if you want to enjoy the smug satisfaction of feeling like you actually made a witch's tit of a difference to your political scene, start a petition: it's easier than baking a pie!
If that is too rich for your blood though, you can always sign up for and answer the calls-to-keyboard for our fair liberty and freedom to buy shit whenever we want, without leaving the comfort of your very own home from the following websites: www.rightoncanada.ca, www.nrdc.org, www.greenpeace.org, www.moveon.org.
Democracy: it's worth, like, five minutes of your time, dude.
Non sequitor: Why the hell do headlines always read "Troops deployed to stop violence". When has deploying the troops ever ended the bloodshed?
ooh what a world, what a world
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