Monday night I had an acquaintance drop by to pick up his daughter and he remarked that he could not believe the Conservatives were leading and asked what was wrong with those people? I simply said people want change. At the door, he grew all solemn and told me with a hushed voice (of what I supposed was an authoritative tone) that if the conservatives get into power they will ban inter-racial marriage.
I thought for a moment and said I may be willing to let everyone go to hell in his or her own way but even I just can’t get behind the idea of sanctioning interspecies dating. Don’t get me wrong, I like dogs and cats as much as the next person, and call me old fashioned if you must, but I just don’t think one should marry the family pet. And with that I closed the door on him.
Yesterday at work by the proverbial water cooler a woman joined a group of us who were chatting about Canadian politics. The woman announced that she just doesn’t feel she can trust Harper. He is always contradicting himself. That silenced all of us as we started to rack our brains trying to figure out what she was talking about. I broke the silence but asking how so? He keeps saying that he’ll do this and that but the next thing you know he is saying the exact opposite. I suggested as kindly as I could maybe she is confusing Paul Martin-liberal with Stephen Harper-Conservative. But she insisted it was Stephen Harper, so I insisted that she give me one example because I simply don’t have a clue as to what she is talking about. “I don’t remember”, she says. At this point she was quite miffed with me and says she will study it and get back to me with examples. Okay, you do that I said. Inquiring minds want to know and all that. She spent the rest of the day avoiding all contact with me. If my luck holds, I won't have to speak to her today either.
The irony is that both of these people are undecided voters, and the party who is able to garner significant votes from the ranks of the undecided will form the next government. The people haven't a clue as to who to vote for with caveat that they both know that they cannot vote for the Hidden Agenda of the Conservatives. While the latest Liberal attack ads don't stand the scrutiny by the light of day; the rub lies in that the latest Liberal commercials make an emotional appeal to hearts of the great unwashed just like these two. I think that the best we can do is hope that on Election Day these like-minded Ontarians stay home in droves.
3 comments:
I feel your pain, my in-laws are dyed-in-the-wool Ontario sheeple(lib's), and the underlying mentality in a nutshell is: "If Mr. Martin says it is so, then it must be so..."
sheesh..
There's a Churchill quote to the effect that a five-minute interview with an average voter is the scariest thing about democracy. Just to lift your day a bit ... "undecided" in polls usually means two things. It can mean "ain't tellin' ya", but it more often means that the person asked isn't going to bother to vote.
I think we have all ran into Canadians who despite all evidence refuse to believe that Steven Harper is who he says he is. Never mind the Libreals have cheated, stolen and out right lied from us on and off for 30 years. When Mulroney wore out his welcome with Conservative voters, he knew to be gone. That said, he got a bad rap as it turned out, for the things most associated with his reign, were kept as cornerstones of the money machine that Martin takes credit for.
No, the problem with too many people who are either undecided or unsure of the Conservatives is that for too many years they have been fed this pablum that the Conservatives are evil un-Canadian satan's who would sell their country to Dubya Bush. I have no idea how to fix this, other than for Harper to move very quickly on issues we all agree on, and air out issues that are contentious for all to see before moving on them. Let debate go on in Parliament. Don't use Closure without undue reason, don't reopen the SSM debate (the one third rail of the CPC is this one..even though in a free vote it likely would not have passed) and just put the country in order for justice, transparency in Government and practical fixes for health care.
Do all of the above, and maybe people wont see horns growing out of Harper's head where there isn't any....
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