Democrazy

Facebook tells me many of my Friends are upset with the result of Canada’s 42nd federal election.  Indeed, it is not the result I was hoping for either. I will gladly admit that I allowed myself to get caught up in the frenzy of a potential orange and green revolution, I even wrote an election-day song out of pure excitement. “Let’s do this thang, vote-vote!” 

I guess I just find the experience of voting exciting in general.  You enter a building not far from your home that you might not regularly get the chance to entre.  You think “oh, this is what it’s like in here.” You get greeted by a pleasant and patriotic senior citizen who has to confirm the rules every time someone shows up without their voter registration card.  “OK, you need to… yes, you need to show me two pieces of ID with your… yes, your address on at least one of them…umm yes, your Hydro bill should be good enough, umm, yes, yes it will.” You then get to go behind a very practical Elections Canada cardboard box and “do” democracy in the unique way we do it in Canada.

If there is anything this election has reveled it is that we are living in a divided country.  The left and the right are as clearly distinguished as they’ve ever been with the centrist Liberals tossed to the side of the road, naked, cold and leaderless.  Buddha, wherever he is, is surely crying a few tears for our fair nation this day.

Although the results don’t reflect my political perspective, I am not as troubled as many of my friends seem to be.  Perhaps this is because I’ve never been one to get caught up in the “Vote or Die!!!” campaigns. I did not attend the Vote Mob at Victoria Park although it did look like a lot of frenzied mob style fun.  I vote and adamantly believe every adult citizen should do likewise.  Where I might differ from the Vote Mobbers of the world is that I also know that the extent of my political and democratic experience cannot and should not be limited to voting once every few years. 

Democracy is not a tetanus shot, it is an every day lived experience.  To be truly healthy, we need to be conscience of how all our choices affect our body and our mind. Democracy works in the same way. We are all of us interacting with various levels of democratic expression in every moment of every day.  The more we think about all our choices as “democratic” the more democratic our society will be.

At the risk of dissenting from the progressive norm, I am even tempted to say that the votasmagoria we find ourselves immersed in every few years may serve to placate or pacify the non-active progressives of us.  The very simple truth is that we have the power, call it what you want: people power, power in numbers, “the people, united, can never be defeated!”  It’s all saying the same thing: power belongs to those who believe they possess it.

There are happily countless examples of people coming together and showing the few fools who pretend to be in charge who the real master is or more accurately, who the real masters are. Margaret Mead said it best, “a small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.” 

All that being said, I would be lying if I said I wasn’t concerned.  Lord Harper has been given his majority and God only knows what he will do with it.  However, I am also confident that we have the best man possible to officially oppose him. 

So, you spent 20 minutes yesterday voting and tweeting about it after.  Now comes the real work of democracy: being a well informed, engaged and active member of your community. But don’t worry; it can wait until after the playoffs.  Go Knights Go!!!