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Thursday, September 11, 2008
Place your bets
posted by Rick Blue at 11h37
Hi. This is my first blog.
In this world everyone seems to have an opinion. Most people are smart enough to keep their opinions to themselves. I guess I am not one of them. But I will try to find the funny where ever I can. After all, that’s my job.
An especially volatile field for opinions is politics. People get really worked up about politics. And these days politics is everywhere.
Especially since now there are not one but two national elections going on: The U.S. presidential election and the Canadian federal election.
Why are we having a Canadian election at the same time? Did we get a case of election envy?
The U.S. election is so much more interesting. And its production values are better. As in everything they will outspend us 10 to one.
But both elections have one thing in common. They both can be described by my simpleton’s guide to politics, which is very, very, er, simple.
There are two sides: the Right and the Left. These are sometime described as conservatives and liberals.
The Right sees its enemies as big government and high taxes. The Left sees its enemies as big corporations and rich people.
In the States, the Right is represented by the Republican Party and the Left is represented by the Democratic Party. Here in Canada, we actually have parties called Conservatives and Liberals representing the right and the left. This should eliminate all confusion.
But we have extra parties, like the New Democratic Party, which is so far left that they make the Liberals look like the centre. And we have the Greens who are really a one-issue party. But it is a big issue.
The Greens remind me of the opening line of an encyclopedia salesmen: “Will you buy these encyclopedias or do to think education is a waste of time?” With the Greens it’s: “Will you vote for us or do think trying to save the planet is a waste of time?”
Then there’s the Bloc Québécois. They have no chance of ever forming a government and yet they go on year after year; which only proves you can fool most of the people most of the time.
Why do they continue to do it? One word – pensions.
To further muddy the waters, the Conservatives have stolen the thunder from the separatist Bloc Québécois by calling Quebec “a nation”. And the Liberal party is stealing the Greens’ raison d’être by putting forward a carbon tax plan.
I haven’t really picked a side in this battle. I used to be a Liberal, but now I’m not so sure. I think Stephane Dion is a good man, but I don’t think taxing carbon is the way to go. Maybe because I am a carbon-based life form, I take it as an insult.
Steven Harper is OK. Most easterners seem to like to portray him as some kind of redneck Albertan who is just like George Bush, but I don’t buy that. First of all, I have been to Alberta and I liked it there. It’s full of optimism and prosperity. And it’s the only province I know of that actually sent each resident a cheque. And as far as the Bush jibe goes, I think that gives Harper credit for having much more charisma than he actually has.
To me both elections are like a horse race. I will watch them with interest and I am even willing to place a bet. But I don’t really mind who wins.
What I find interesting is that elections are not so much won as they are lost.
I think the Republicans will probably take the U.S. election because the Democrats will inevitably blow it. Their first mistake was not nominating Hillary for President. Their second mistake was not nominating her for vice-president.
And I think Harper will win our election because of his opponents. The four other parties will simply split the anti-Conservative vote.
Does this make me a right-winger? No. It just makes me an educated better.
I would be pleasantly surprised if the NDP were to form a minority government up here. And I think Obama would make a more interesting President than McCain. I just don’t think that’s going to happen. Do you?