Politics...
Disillusionment plagues many over what is on offer in the world (and Canada). The common theme is lack of voice, lack of authentic representation, lack of integrity. People are predominantly disenchanted with those that lead them.
Someone asked me recently why they should even bother with showing up to vote because it doesn’t matter anyway. Unsure what exactly to say, I talked about what it was like to have no voice at all - 6 plus years watching 5 successive governments in another country as a 'legal' alien taught me what true powerlessness feels like. Everyone likes to talk about privilege (this decade’s dirty word), but having the freedom to not bother with voting is indicative of the privilege we enjoy - an ultimate shirking of responsibility for the decisions that shape our lives. We are foolish believing that we can walk away from an outcome morally if we didn’t choose it. There are still countries in the world that don’t have that luxury. There are still countries where you disappear if you don’t agree with your government. Democracy is far from universal.
How many of us know the sacrifices for our freedom to vote? Do we know how long it took? Do we understand that non-nobility didn’t have the power to vote in much of Europe until somewhere in the 1800s? Three percent of the population decided what happened in the UK in 1780. Women weren’t even considered capable of voting until the 20th century in much of the world. Women didn’t get to a provincial vote in Alberta until April 1916. Manitoba led the way in January, and Saskatchewan came after in March. Yep. We didn’t even get there first. We received limited power to vote federally in 1917 thanks to World War One. We didn’t mess that up so it later became permanent throughout the country. The representative government in our society is young. Prairie women have the longest track record of only 103 years, while poor Quebec didn’t let women have a provincial voice until 1944. Asian women had no franchise in Canada until after World War II. Our progressive contemporary society isn’t very old at all. Protests, violence, and arrests bought your political voice. Someone paid for your privilege with blood, sweat and tears. People in other parts of the world are still fighting that battle. Be careful current societal enlightenment doesn't make us arrogant.
The beauty of representative politics is that everyone gets a share of the responsibility for the outcome. The ugliness is that if you don’t show up to play that day, you might feel like you can sidestep ownership of the outcome. A non-vote is essentially a vote - you sell your agency to those that bother to show up. Some countries make voting mandatory, requiring acceptable reasons for missing your vote or you face a hefty fine. But do we want to force people to vote? The independent right to choose is the purpose of voting?
I suppose I want people not to take it for granted that someone else will vote. Don’t assume enough other intelligent people will work out who has the best chance of being a decent leader for our fractured country. That’s how 3% of the population ends up making all the decisions. It would be a tragedy if our apathy for political accountability sent us back to the 18th century. Sometimes it feels that way.
If you have the right, use it. Exercise your agency on October 21st or in an advance poll to say something. Show up. Don’t forget to tell generations past that you respect what they gave up for us to take our turn at the polls. Not everyone has that power. You do.
Disillusionment plagues many over what is on offer in the world (and Canada). The common theme is lack of voice, lack of authentic representation, lack of integrity. People are predominantly disenchanted with those that lead them.
Someone asked me recently why they should even bother with showing up to vote because it doesn’t matter anyway. Unsure what exactly to say, I talked about what it was like to have no voice at all - 6 plus years watching 5 successive governments in another country as a 'legal' alien taught me what true powerlessness feels like. Everyone likes to talk about privilege (this decade’s dirty word), but having the freedom to not bother with voting is indicative of the privilege we enjoy - an ultimate shirking of responsibility for the decisions that shape our lives. We are foolish believing that we can walk away from an outcome morally if we didn’t choose it. There are still countries in the world that don’t have that luxury. There are still countries where you disappear if you don’t agree with your government. Democracy is far from universal.
How many of us know the sacrifices for our freedom to vote? Do we know how long it took? Do we understand that non-nobility didn’t have the power to vote in much of Europe until somewhere in the 1800s? Three percent of the population decided what happened in the UK in 1780. Women weren’t even considered capable of voting until the 20th century in much of the world. Women didn’t get to a provincial vote in Alberta until April 1916. Manitoba led the way in January, and Saskatchewan came after in March. Yep. We didn’t even get there first. We received limited power to vote federally in 1917 thanks to World War One. We didn’t mess that up so it later became permanent throughout the country. The representative government in our society is young. Prairie women have the longest track record of only 103 years, while poor Quebec didn’t let women have a provincial voice until 1944. Asian women had no franchise in Canada until after World War II. Our progressive contemporary society isn’t very old at all. Protests, violence, and arrests bought your political voice. Someone paid for your privilege with blood, sweat and tears. People in other parts of the world are still fighting that battle. Be careful current societal enlightenment doesn't make us arrogant.
The beauty of representative politics is that everyone gets a share of the responsibility for the outcome. The ugliness is that if you don’t show up to play that day, you might feel like you can sidestep ownership of the outcome. A non-vote is essentially a vote - you sell your agency to those that bother to show up. Some countries make voting mandatory, requiring acceptable reasons for missing your vote or you face a hefty fine. But do we want to force people to vote? The independent right to choose is the purpose of voting?
I suppose I want people not to take it for granted that someone else will vote. Don’t assume enough other intelligent people will work out who has the best chance of being a decent leader for our fractured country. That’s how 3% of the population ends up making all the decisions. It would be a tragedy if our apathy for political accountability sent us back to the 18th century. Sometimes it feels that way.
If you have the right, use it. Exercise your agency on October 21st or in an advance poll to say something. Show up. Don’t forget to tell generations past that you respect what they gave up for us to take our turn at the polls. Not everyone has that power. You do.
Bibliography
(n.d.). Women’s Right To Vote In Canada. Retrieved October 9, 2019, from https://lop.parl.ca/sites/ParlInfo/default/en_CA/ElectionsRidings/womenVote
(n.d.). Women’s Suffrage In Canada | The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved October 9, 2019, from https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/suffrage
(n.d.). The National Archives | Exhibitions | Citizenship | Struggle For Democracy. Retrieved October 9, 2019, from http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathways/citizenship/struggle_democracy/getting_vote.htm
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