Slow and Steady....

Vote Mobs. They are a relatively new creation, and have been popping up at universities across the country in recent weeks.
If you haven't heard of them, check out cbc.ca. There is a lot of writing on the subject.

This year, Rick Mercer's traditional call to young people to vote has resulted in thousands of youth getting together to state their willingness to get out there and have their say. There are articles and YouTube videos out there showing the enthusiasm and spirit from great numbers of university students. There are colours and costumes everywhere, cheering and posters stating the students' promises to vote. The pictures have been a refreshing sight in the wake of the downright depressing slander and dark attack ads that grace our televisions and radios.

But as with every celebration, there's always one Debbie Downer. There have been a few small articles condemning these mobs as unproductive and chaotic but this recent one, courtesy of the Ottawa Citizen, blasts them all out of the water. Someone in Ottawa's getting nervous. And the fact that the article is written by a former speech writer for the PM himself, I'll give you 3 guesses who that someone is.

Sure, you'll say when you read the first part, vote mobs are not going to suddenly incite a few million new voters to make it to the polling stations on May 2. And they certainly don't guarantee that all votes cast a result of the mobs will be well-researched ones. But does this automatically mean they're all bad? That they won't make a difference for a few people in every mob at every university?
Mr Taube refers to the mobs as "silly" and the resultant videos as "pointless". If history has taught us anything, it is to never underestimate the power of numbers. Gatherings of thousands are never totally ineffective. And the power of mass media is only going to grow exponentially.
What have the ads been telling us? Every vote makes a difference. So it stands to reason that 10 new votes, 30 votes, 50 votes can make change happen. Just because a movement doesn't immediately overturn the current system doesn't completely invalidate it. Very rarely does change, any change, happen quickly. At least someone is out there, trying.

And I'm sorry, Mr Taube, did you have a better suggestion? Right.... you must have been so busy slamming those who are actually making an effort, you must have forgotten.

Please take a minute to read the article.
And please, please, don't buy into it.

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/decision-canada/Opinion+Vote+mentality/4658160/story.html

In their midst....

Here we are, 2 weeks into campaign madness. All the platforms have been revealed, the tour buses are parked in preparation for this week's debates, and one particular Prime Minister seems to be auditioning for Rick Mercer's job.....ATVs? Really?
Even the usually reticent voices of the CBC Radio broadcasters are sounding noticeably tired in their constant pre-campaign-ad disclaimers......'During the election, CBC Radio is obliged to air campaign ads during its regular broadcast......' I swear I heard a muffled groan the other day, right before Matt Galloway switched his mike off.......

I hope that along the way, dear campaigners, you have learned some lessons - most importantly, about how NOT to entice voters to vote for you:

Lesson 1: Don't completely ostracize a crowd of new Canadians with separatist language. They are not a separate species - they are incredible individuals, individuals who have made the enormously difficult and often painful choice to uproot themselves from their native lands to seek out what they can only hope is better than what they leave behind. They are people who have more courage and more stories and more life experience under their belts than any upper middle class white scholar turned politician will ever know. Don't be so exclusive in your language, sir, and consider reading your speeches once over before you open your mouth.

Lesson 2: When a young potential voter breaks themselves away from Jersey Shore long enough to look up the location of your rally and actually turns up to hear what you have to say, embrace it. As Rick Mercer points out at the dawn of each new election, there are millions of youth in this country, and if they all decided to get out there and vote, there could be a huge difference in the result. This year, in response to Rick's rant, thousands of university students nationwide have been rallying, promising that they'll vote. This is a good thing!
Some of these newbies showed up at rallies. Sometimes they were admitted. Sometimes not. Come on, people. Not only is it a new voter, but it's a new voter who's willing to do the legwork to research all of the options. This is the ideal voter in a democracy!
My biggest concern here is this:
When a regular voter is discouraged by a political party, what do they do? They turn around and vote for the other guy.
But a first-time voter? If their first point of contact with any politician is to be discouraged and turned away, they may not come back. At all. They may choose to stay home on election day.

Lesson 3: When you're called out for ejecting people from your rallies, don't try and make it an example of the mass numbers that turned out to see you "We're turning people away...."

And finally Lesson 4:
When you're called out for lying about why you were turning people away, and you attempt an apology, try and make it sound sincere! For heaven's sake, "We're obviously sorry...." just doesn't ring true, sir.
I don't think anyone's buying it.

On the other hand, I think that many out there are still buying in to a lot of other aspects of this campaign. I hold out little hope that anything will change post-May 2.

I do however love living in a country that asks 4 of the most important political superstars in the country to reschedule their debate, because there's a hockey game on.

Vive le Canada.