Election 2015

[Edward Campbell]

America bashing works pretty well amongst the group (urban Vancouver, Edmonton, Hamilton and Toronto, greater Montreal) that John Ibbitson suggests agree to the Laurentian Consensus. It will not go down as well with the BC and Ontario suburbanites and prairie populists who make up the new Conservative Coalition (Ibbitson's phrase, again).

But the focus on the Arctic and President Obama, himself, do provide opportunities for some, limited, America bashing by the CPC.

Deep in the darker corners of his partisan, tactical, political heart, I'll bet Prime Minister Harper almost hopes that President Obama rejects the Keystone Pipeline ... such an act could be, will be seen by many Canadian opinion leaders as a slap in the face and it would play into the Conservatives' hands much more, I think, than into those of the Liberals and NDP.

 

[211RadOp]

I've voted in every election since I was able and I'm 60 now. I have voted nothing but Conservative.

I'm disappointed on how they are handling the firearms file.

I'm infuriated how they are treating veterans.

I will be voting again this time. However, my ballot will be a write in for Libertarian, Rhino or 'None of the above'. Depending how I feel that day.

They have a little over a year to sort themselves out and get me back on board.

I'm not holding my breath on this last option.

One year I put a big X through the whole ballot.  Just because I could.

 

[Rifleman62]

Then don't ever bitch about whatever party becomes the government.

 

[Jed]

I've voted in every election since I was able and I'm 60 now. I have voted nothing but Conservative.

I'm disappointed on how they are handling the firearms file.

I'm infuriated how they are treating veterans.

I will be voting again this time. However, my ballot will be a write in for Libertarian, Rhino or 'None of the above'. Depending how I feel that day.

They have a little over a year to sort themselves out and get me back on board.

I'm not holding my breath on this last option.

Ditto for me. I might have voted for Otto Lang once decades ago.

 

[Remius]

Then don't ever ***** about whatever party becomes the government.

You see, I don't have an issue with spoiled ballots.  It is still an active participation in the process. Not the same as apathy or laziness.

 

[Edward Campbell]

I agree, an intentionally spooled ballot is a protest, a pox on all their houses sort of protest ~ ineffectual, to be sure, but a protest vote, all the same; but when you spoil your ballot you are, as Rifleman62 suggests, putting your choice in the hands of others and your right to complain about the ones who got elected is, shall we say, diminished.

 

[Infanteer]

I'd say the alternative is to vote how the system is intended to work - look at all the candidates and decide which one has impressed you the most.  At least you can feel comfortable of having voted for a good candidate, if not a good political party.

 

[dapaterson]

I'd say the alternative is to vote how the system is intended to work - look at all the candidates and decide which one has impressed you the most.  At least you can feel comfortable of having voted for a good candidate, if not a good political party.

The one time I spoiled a ballot it was after going to an all candidates meeting.  I still stand by that decision as the best of a bad lot...

 

[Fishbone Jones]

I'd say the alternative is to vote how the system is intended to work - look at all the candidates and decide which one has impressed you the most.  At least you can feel comfortable of having voted for a good candidate, if not a good political party.

Unfortunately, at this time, there is neither a good candidate in some ridings, or a good political party.

 

[Remius]

Last election I was disallusioned with all parties in my riding. So I voted for who I thought would at least be the best MP in my mind.  Regardless of their political stripe.  I may do the same this time.

Provincially though, I feel the current government needs replacing.  I'll be voting with an anybody but them mentality.

 

[a_majoor]

Unfortunately, at this time, there is neither a good candidate in some ridings, or a good political party.

Well, if you want to find and support a good candidate (or be one yourself, for that matter), then you should follow this advice. Since it is early in 2014, you have the better part of a year to make this happen (I suspect that the PM may call a spring election in 2015, on the grounds that several Provincial elections are due that fall. Even if he does not, if you think and act as if it is true, then you will be ready before your potential opponents). Substitute CPC and Liberal Party (or NDP and Green, if you like) for Democrat and Republican, the advice and action plan remains the same:

http://pjmedia.com/instapundit/182380/

FROM THE COMMENTS TO A POST LAST NIGHT, ADVICE TO UNHAPPY REPUBLICANS:

I suggest you actually attend your state’s Republican and Democrat party conventions (Bing is your friend). Attend every day and stay at the convention hotel, don’t be a day tripper. Mingle. Listen in the hallways and listen in the hospitality suites. And learn.

After your learning assignment, go back to your home district and ally yourself with people who think like you and are eager to act. Then get busy. It’s already 2014, if your candidate hasn’t already got a campaign committee, six figures of campaign money in a campaign account at the bank, and at least a dozen supporters other than committee members who are ready to start putting in 20+ hours per week on campaign grunt work as of this minute, then your candidate has already lost. So move on to the next best choice. And if that candidate also has already lost, move on again. Repeat until you’ve found the best candidate that can win. Volunteer for that candidate. Work hard starting Day One. You’ve got less than 11 months on the election calendar left. Time’s running out. Stop talking and get busy.

This is good advice.

 

[Brad Sallows]

I would never waste an opportunity to vote.

I work a full week, and I have to compete for my interests against factions of people who understand mobilization and organization well enough and whose full-time occupation is to agitate for a slice of my interests instead of creating their own.  They vote too.

 

[Edward Campbell]

:goodpost:

Milpoints inbound, Brad.

 

[Fishbone Jones]

I am not talking about not voting. I am talking about a write in vote for someone not on the ballot who, in my mind, fits closer to my idea of policy than the parties listed.

I am not a single issue voter, or party supporter. My vote goes to the party who's policy and programs more align with my own.

To this point, that has been the Conservatives. However, I believe they have lost their way and the other parties have nothing to offer me.

I cannot, in my heart vote, for the best of the worst to maintain the status quo. Nor will I be shamed by being told I am not worthy to say my piece because I refused to voice my opinion for not voting to replace one bunch of inept morons for another.

As long as I enter that voting booth, no one has the right judge me.

 

[Brad Sallows]

I find none of the parties listed ever reliably approaches my preferred policy vector.  Nonetheless, I see an advantage in voting for the nearest one.  The voting process is an equalizer - no matter how much time any one person has available to seek rents from others, it is still one person, one vote.

 

[Edward Campbell]

Remaining on this sidetrack ...

    [o] I cannot vote for the BQ because I don't live in QC ~ and I would not, on principle, if I could/did;
    [o] I will not vote for the Greens because I do not believe they offer anything to the national political process;
    [o] I will not, ever, vote for the NDP because I believe know their economic policy proposals are ruinously stupid;
    [o] I have voted Liberal in the past ~ but not since Lester Pearson brought Marchand, Pelletier and Trudeau into the party in the 1960s. I remain opposed to Liberal principles which I find to be statist, which
I regard as dangerous, and socialistic, which I regard as stupid;;
    [o] I did not vote for the Reform Party because I found their populism distasteful and I judged them to be in the hands of the "religious right" which I regard as a dangerously uninformed movement;
    [o] I have, pretty consistently since 1965, voted Conservative ~ PC and now CPC. I cannot think of a single CPC policy with which I am in complete agreement; I do not agree, at all, with many CPC policy positions, I oppose a few CPC policies with loud vehemence. But the Conservatives, in my opinion are the only party with several policies with which I find favour. The tiny handful (three, four, maybe five) of issues on which I am likely to favour Liberals over Conservatives are insufficient in either number or importance to shift my party allegiance. There  are fairly large chunks of each party's platform about which I care nothing ~ I oppose all of them equally. There are other elements wherein I find they all offer bits to support and other bits to oppose, but nothing to make me choose one over the other. A small handful of issues inform my vote and on all those issues the Conservatives are closer to my position than are the Liberals.

Could the Liberals earn my vote again? Yes, all they need do is:

    1. Promise a much smaller, less intrusive (into the individual rights) of Canadians, government;

    2. Promise balanced budgets with lower taxes ~ especially lower taxes on businesses;

    3. Promise a principled foreign policy that puts Canada's national interests first and backs it up with useful armed forces;

    4. Promise to deal honestly and fairly with First Nations in an effort to empower individuals in First Nations to decide their own fates according to their own needs; and

    5. Promise to vacate areas on Constitutionally defined provincial responsibility, including renouncing several existing federal-provincial agreements.

Do I think I'm likely to vote Liberal any time soon? No.

 

[a_majoor]

Could the Libertarians earn my vote again? Yes, all they need do is:

    1. Promise a much smaller, less intrusive (into the individual rights) of Canadians, government;

    2. Promise balanced budgets with lower taxes ~ especially lower taxes on businesses;

    3. Promise a principled foreign policy that puts Canada's national interests first and backs it up with useful armed forces;

    4. Promise to deal honestly and fairly with First Nations in an effort to empower individuals in First Nations to decide their own fates according to their own needs; and

    5. Promise to vacate areas on Constitutionally defined provincial responsibility, including renouncing several existing federal-provincial agreements.

Sadly, while Libertarians have the intellectual rigour and understanding to create and offer a "Classical Liberal" platform, they are entirely deficient in terms of organization, fundraising, media awareness and all the other things which make a political party a contender. The primary difference between Edward's ideal list and the Libertarians is they see the "Swiss" model of a citizen militia which is designed to defend hearth and home, but not to project power. (This is one of my key objections to the Libertarian party platform BTW, since we have not been living in King's "Fireproof house" for more than half a century, and arguably much longer).

Still on the principle of half a loaf, I compare my "ideal" platform to what is on offer, then look at who has the ability to actually deliver a portion of what I want to see as Government policy before deciding on who to vote for.

WRT to spoiling ballots or refusing to vote, that is indeed your right, but consider that there are large and well funded forces (like the Union front group "Working Families") who are able to push their agenda because people refuse to take a stand in the ballot box. Modern elections are no longer contests between political parties, but between predatory groups seeking to feed off the taxpayer.

I will refer you to a previous post upthread for anyone interested in taking up arms and doing battle in the political arena:
http://forums.army.ca/forums/threads/101972/post-1287033.html#msg1287033

 

[Edward Campbell]

Sadly, while Libertarians have the intellectual rigour and understanding to create and offer a "Classical Liberal" platform, they are entirely deficient in terms of organization, fundraising, media awareness and all the other things which make a political party a contender. The primary difference between Edward's ideal list and the Libertarians is they see the "Swiss" model of a citizen militia which is designed to defend hearth and home, but not to project power. (This is one of my key objections to the Libertarian party platform BTW, since we have not been living in King's "Fireproof house" for more than half a century, and arguably much longer).

Still on the principle of half a loaf, I compare my "ideal" platform to what is on offer, then look at who has the ability to actually deliver a portion of what I want to see as Government policy before deciding on who to vote for.

WRT to spoiling ballots or refusing to vote, that is indeed your right, but consider that there are large and well funded forces (like the Union front group "Working Families") who are able to push their agenda because people refuse to take a stand in the ballot box. Modern elections are no longer contests between political parties, but between predatory groups seeking to feed off the taxpayer.

I will refer you to a previous post upthread for anyone interested in taking up arms and doing battle in the political arena:
http://forums.army.ca/forums/threads/101972/post-1287033.html#msg1287033

Catherine Swift, retired CEO but still the Chair of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, has started a (still restricted to Ontario) counter to the unions, especially public sector unions, (and the "Working Families" campaign) called: "Working Canadians."

 

[Edward Campbell]

And Gable, in the Globe and Mail provides this excellent summary of the Liberal campaign:

Reproduced under the Fair Dealing provisions of the Copyright Act from the Globe and Mail
Source: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/are-you-csis-csec-or-rcmp/article16655155/#dashboard/follows/

 

[ballz]

5. Promise to vacate areas on Constitutionally defined provincial responsibility, including renouncing several existing federal-provincial agreements.

Could you give a couple of examples, please?