And the results are in: The provincial Libs are incompetent electioneers (really? you let Rob Ford's robo-call bullying in Scarborough and "subways vs streetcars" positioning of the transit / LRT issue force you into flip-flopping and supporting such an asinine, money losing plan?), the NDP are...the NDP & the Provincial PC's are ideologically driven know-nothings who suck at math.
Tea Party Tim's "meeeeelion" jobs plan is only 75,000...25,000 less than the 100,000 they plan to eliminate from the public sector and those "savings" from killing all those jobs will be cancelled out by the corporate tax cuts they plan to enact (cause, ya know cut taxez is soooo "Conservative") oh yeah and there's the 100,000 people now out of work that aren't just going to "disappear" or "get new jobs" magically, which means...more social service expenses one way or the other.
Toronto...ONTARIO, we are BETTER THAN THIS. These people aren't smarter than you, they aren't more able than you...they just want "power" more than you.
This all boils down to a lack of leadership. A lack of someone "at the top" saying NO, we won't do that, because it's "politically expedient", NO we won't say that, because "it's what they want to hear" and NO we certainly won't do / say that...because it's WRONG.
We need leadership and that leadership starts with YOU! GET INVOLVED. MAKE SURE YOU VOTE and RUN FOR OFFICE! Blog, tweet, speak up! I get it, politics is painful. That's because our brains are wired to avoid pain more than to seek pleasure. But we have to grow up and get involved. We don't have a choice in the matter.
"Anyone who either cannot lead the common life or is so self-sufficient as not to need to, and therefore does not partake of society, is either a beast or a god. ” - Socrates
And just because you identify with one party or the next, doesn't mean they don't have to earn your support. I'm a dyed in the wool, card carrying member of the Liberal party. Before I even knew what a "Trudeau" was, I was being told he was "The best Pri' Minista mon!" by my Jamaican parents.
With that being said, I've only actively supported two political campaigns and both were for Conservatives. Peter Kent & John Tory. Politics does indeed make strange bedfellowes, but I explained it to my friends who questioned me, that it comes down to supporting good people with good ideas. And newsflash: CONSERVATIVES HAVE HEARTS TOO.
Don't buy into the "political pablum" of left vs. right. We live in a complex, nuanced, society. It is required of us as CITIZENS (fuck this "taxpayer" line, we are more than the money we make and pay out, our value & obligation to our government and each other goes beyond "taxes"). Politics used to be the domain of the learned, the astute and the ethically aware, now it's the domain of whoever can afford the most TV ads and the simplest message.
My friends, we are in a sorry state politically, as a city, province and country. We need to take back our society and that starts with getting involved. We can do better!
And for the record, yes, I'm still holding my nose and voting Liberal, provincially. Why? Because the last time we elected a PC government to come in and clean up some "Leftist" mess, we ended up with the Harris Conservatives. A government that caused all kinds of social damage with their "common sense" fiscal plans and still left us with a deficit bigger than the one they inherited while doing it and a society much worse for the most vulnerable among us.
To all my new downtown condo-dwelling, (transplanted 905er) friends who feel they "have" to support Conservatives...all those homeless people and panhandlers you avoid on your way to-from work? The ones driving down your property / condo values? You can thank Harris' gutting of the social support framework for that one. Social justice people called this the minute he was elected. Whether we like it or not, we are all in this together and political solutions can't benefit "some", they must benefit all to the best of our ability.
KB