Thursday: Procrastipolitics

I happened to come across an article today regarding voter anger in the Toronto Mayoralty race.
It appears, Torontonians are mad as hell (no kidding) and suggests that mayoralty candidate Rob Ford is capitalizing on this anger in a substantial way – pulling support from those I would consider to be the race’s more credible candidates.

The article refers to anger as a powerful political motivator – citing examples (among them Brian Mulroney and Bob Rae) of politicians who have fallen at the hands of voter anger. It also presents anger as a meaningful force in politics - as evidenced in both the Civil Rights movement in the United States and the global Women’s movement.

This reference stopped me dead in my tracks. Yes, the thousands of people involved in the Civil Rights movement and the Women’s movement were (and in the latter case, are) angry – but this anger came from a desire to change deep seated bigotry and injustice.

The Civil Rights movement, let me be clear, was a positive outlet for that anger – transforming it in to action that served some meaningful end.

I’m not in any way trying to minimize the displeasure Torontonians have with their City Hall, and I’m not speaking as an outsider, I lived there for 4 years.

It is my strong feeling; however, that this is misplaced anger and hatefulness that is nourished by the rhetoric spewed by Rob Ford. (It’s a pretty cynical campaign strategy. No ideas – just feed voters their daily dose of angry, keep your name in their proverbial headlights -and BANG, you’re elected.)

Anger is insatiable when it has no positive outlet. It merely feeds on itself, exponentially increasing the negative feelings of the person holding the anger.

True, anger is better than apathy – but only if it is directed at some concrete end. We are blessed to live a free and democratic society, where we have the right to elect our leaders, to voice our opinion at the ballot box and to shape the future of our cities, provinces and country with our ideas and our votes.

Respectfully, Torontonians need to get a hold of themselves and act objectively, fully considering the consequences of voting out of anger. Listen to what Rob Ford is really saying and examine carefully what kind of city he’s offering – do you really want him to be the face of your city?

If I could provide one piece of advice to the people of Toronto it would be this – Think. Educate. Vote.

What do I mean by this?

Think - Consider what kind of City you want to live in. Look at other Cities across the world that you think are exemplary – what do they do? What do you believe to be the key action points that Toronto needs to deliver on to make it a world class City?

We all lead busy lives, in a world where almost every moment of our time is consumed with some pressing decision that needs our attention or some piece of information that we just have to consume. The kind of City (world) you want to live in is a decision that merits thoughtful consideration.

Educate (Yourself) – Yes, read the paper every day, but don’t rely on that as your sole source of information. Find out what the people you respect think; what the leaders of your community think, about the choices before you. Attend debates if you can. Ask questions. Ask thoughtful questions. Call, e-mail or write the campaign offices of the candidates. Your vote is important to them, in the very least a campaign official should call you back or the candidate should respond via e-mail or phone. We live in an age where communication is Queen, arguably, there is no reason for voters to be unable to access candidates wanting their votes.

Vote – This one should be fairly straightforward. Vote. Pardon my French, but get up off your Ass and Vote. I can’t put it any plainer than this, people died for your right to vote, and people continue to die for other people’s right to vote – don’t trivialize the loss of their lives because you are “too busy” to get to a polling station. Call your chosen candidate’s office, chances are, they’ll drive you there and maybe even give you a coffee and a cookie for exercising your democratic right.

Having gone on a diatribe about voting (it really gets me going), I’m now going to place an asterix * on my previous comment. If you haven’t taken the two steps before the Vote and you’re voting purely out of anger and venom, without fully considering the weight of your decision, you’d be better off to stay home – chances are you’ll regret your decision within a year. Act in haste, repent at leisure - just ask the people of Ottawa.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_O