We are a peculiar species, we humans - we bill ourselves as the only self-aware animal, an observation that may be mostly true or, more likely, little more than self-possessed hubris.
We have the intellectual ability to venture outside our atmosphere and to explore the very limits of our universe, both large and small. We really are pretty smart dudes and dudettes – just tune into a YouTube video on quantum physics or VSL Cosmology if you need proof.
However, all that intellect doesn’t necessarily float to the surface when it comes to ethics and morals, or even common sense, whatever that is (and I’m including myself in this critique). We, and I, talk a great line about ‘doing the right thing’, but really we fall spectacularly short of the mark most of the time. But, let’s look just at common sense.
As I pen this piece, it is the day after our municipal election where we chose one mayor and six councillors, good people all, to govern our community for the next four years. Now, I’m thinking about common sense or lack thereof.
The election should be a big deal because no level of government has more potential to affect our immediate day-to-day lives than that governed by our municipal politicians.
Who they are and what they do has a real impact, you know: zoning decisions, by-laws, infrastructure, streets, sewers, water supply, recycling, garbage, fire, policing, development, housing, the immediate, at your doorstep stuff. Want that pothole fixed, don’t want a toxic waste dump built behind your house? Pay attention.
Kitimat has an estimated 6,106 eligible voters - only 2,387 bothered to cast a ballot on election night. That’s about 39 percent, not particularly impressive.
And no, saying you are content with the status quo doesn’t cut it, because the result was not the status quo! Things have changed. The bizarre thing here is that elsewhere in the world, people are dying in their efforts to have a free vote.
I know, I know that’s akin to a mother telling her kid to eat his/her veggies because there are starving children somewhere, but come on, how hard is it to pay attention to what is in your own best interest?
We had a candidate’s forum that was even broadcast on the tube and live streamed. Becoming even moderately informed would require - what - a couple of hours away from young Sheldon or Survivor?
I’ve heard a number of strange rationalizations for not voting. For example: My vote doesn’t matter.
Well, it sure won’t if you don’t vote, but I do understand the frustration when a party gets 39 per cent of the vote and wins 100 per cent of the power. That said, we have an upcoming vote on proportional representation that will resolve this problem for you at a provincial level, if you just vote.
Indeed proportional representation will give us a system where your vote will matter. It isn’t without its drawbacks, but then what created by humans is not without its drawbacks. Regardless, get informed and vote, because no matter what, it has an impact even if your candidate loses.
Then we have the infamous: I don’t like any of the candidates. First and foremost, you may not like them, but sure as you’re born, one of their policies will fit you better than the other and regardless who you don’t like, someone is surely going to win the vote.
This isn’t a prom date for goodness sake, this is about giving someone the power to affect your life. A lot of Americans didn’t vote for the Democrats because they didn’t like Hillary Clinton.
Well, look what that got them; Donald John Trump and they are definitely are not happy about it now. What did they expect? My dear old Mom used to say: Don’t cut off your nose to spite your face. Right on, Mom!
Another excuse is akin to the I don’t like the candidates, but surfaces as: I’m protesting the system. Well, exactly what system are you protesting, and how is that going to make anything better?
As protests go, this is really a remarkably vapid one. It requires no understanding, no effort, no commitment, nothing. Nobody ever pays any attention to it because it is ridiculous. Ergo, it is about as stupid a protest as one can muster. What was it my wise old Mom used to say about your nose and face? Just checking to see if you are listening.
I have also heard people pontificate on how, certainly at federal and provincial levels and our major cities, the system is stacked against me; it’s all run by big money. You know, last night Vancouver elected an independent for mayor. He was not part of either Vision Vancouver or COPE.
Yes, money plays a big part, but, if you want to resolve that, get involved at a grassroots level and work on party policy and political direction. It will be a wonderful education - you will learn a lot and you will have a real impact.
Again, take a look at proportional representation - it has some decided benefits in this arena as well. In a small community like ours, wow, you can have a big impact if you care to pay attention.
The sad thing about this little treatise is that the ones most likely to read it already vote, and vote for the right reasons. A friend recently told my long-suffering wife Linda that she always votes for the candidate she thinks most likely to lose, just so she has the right to complain.
I really like this friend, but wow, the logical of her statement just zings over my head - I just don’t get it at all.
You know, our democratic system may be complicated and ponderous and annoying, but it is a whole lot better than any other system and rest assured we can lose our democracy and be left with something we don’t like at all. Devising democracy took generations of effort and a lot of blood sacrifice.
The ruling monarchies certainly did not want to lose their privilege. Today we see Recep Tayyip Erdogan savage democratic rule in Turkey and watch as Russia has tumbled from one form of autocratic rule to another.
If we at the unwashed level do not value the system of government we have, rest assured there are powerful forces that will care, will pay attention and will mold the system to their benefit.