Vote.

[c9]

It now seems we have an election on the way. Which is being billed, by some in government, on Twitter and in some news "streeters" on TV last night, as a bit of a bother. This is apparently because we are evolved as a nation enough to be kind of sarcastic/cool about elections, as opposed to nations we have to invade or bomb or censure at the United Nations to ensure that people have the right to vote.

That's not a throwaway line. It's worth thinking about how we keep being told that participating in the country is a nuisance.

- http://thestar.blogs.com/politics/2011/03/troublesomeelection.html

Your vote is worth something. Really and truly. Please don't succumb to the apathy so popular now that it has no impact, because it's not true. If you don't like the options presented, you're not looking hard enough. There are parties, and independent candidates, representing all sorts of policies and ideas.

People like to say "if you don't vote, you don't get to complain." We know that's not true of course - everybody bitches no matter what. But why should anybody in power listen to your whining if you didn't even vote? That's the key to their attention. That and donations - which like it or note, are required to make the parties function.


Programming note: I have a small role with Elections Canada - a non-partisan organization, some opinions to the contrary notwithstanding - and therefore I can't really comment in a partisan way on the (now seemingly certain) election. But I plan to bitch about everybody equally as much as I can. Since 140 characters is too few to really carefully express any opinions, hopefully I'll spend a bit more time here instead and you can all get a respite from my daily tweets list.

Added: I need to update that usericon, it's a bit out of date now. I think I made it for the 2004 election. Yeesh.