Ugh. Politics.

Here in Canada, we are having a federal election on May 2nd.  Now for me, politics has been a part of my life since childhood.  I remember the males in my family, my father and uncles, debating endlessly about it.  And although I didn't care much about what they were discussing at the time, I was growing up with it as part of my DNA.

I was about 20 years old the first time I actually got involved in volunteering for a political party during an election, and it opened my eyes.  I did two jobs;  I worked in the campaign office and I was also out there pounding on doors as a canvasser.  The canvassing part was tough enough;  being called names or having the door slammed in your face can be pretty devastating for someone so young and naive.  But working in the office gave me an even more disturbing picture of politics.  Everything was about strategy, and not in a nice way;  all of the dirty tricks used to trash or defeat the other side (or sides) really made me feel uncomfortable.  It was my first dose of political reality and I didn't like it.

I never volunteered again, although oddly enough, I did continue to vote for the party that I had worked for.

These days, the "dirty" part of politics is even more in our faces.  It used to be that we got our information about a political campaign by traditional sources like newspapers or the evening news, and we still do.  But now we also have to watch gobs of inflammatory political ads and endure endless anonymous posters online who are as foul-mouthed and ignorant as ever.  The announcement of our upcoming election is making me miserable because I realize that for the next month, every time I turn the TV on or read Canadian news websites, I'm going to risk another mean-spirited assault by one political party or another.  It has all become dirty, disgusting and full of bullshit.  No wonder younger people don't care to vote.  If they've had any exposure at all to what goes on during question period in the House of Commons, it would probably turn them off politics forever.

So it was wonderfully refreshing to watch a recent CBC commentary by Rex Murphy.  I don't always agree with Rex, but he is always intelligent, articulate and he cuts to the chase:




There you have it.  Rex gets my vote.  Is anyone out there on the campaign trail going to listen? Well, somehow I doubt it. But you know, if ever I come across a politician who proves to me that they are want to live by even two or three of Rex's rules, no matter which side they're on, they'll have my vote!

IJ