Voting NDP
Thanks to the Liberals' hurried and worriedly strategic call for a federal election, I have had quite a few conversations with people about voting NDP. Many people fear that a vote for the NDP in Canada is a thrown-away vote. They believe that the only two parties who really matter today in Canada are the Liberals and the Conservatives.
I have to say that I will still vote NDP. I have political reasons for voting NDP (ie. their strong stance on healthcare, not privatized healthcare improvement, but public healthcare improvement, their interest in minority groups in Canada, their much-better-than-the-Liberals stance on corporate sponsorship, etc.). I feel that Jack Layton could be an adequate leader for Canada.
I will also still vote for the NDP because I believe in the power of a single vote. Demanding that someone vote for a particular party because they will make no difference otherwise is an act of bullying and an act of intimidation. It is not democracy. We see this type of bullying in America all the time with the supposedly weak Green Party vote. If one person does not vote for a third party, it is one less person voting for a third party. One vote for a third party in Canada is one more vote. This is a rhetorical series of statements, but I mention them in order to illustrate a point.
If we don't start change somewhere, where will it start? Do you want to vote for the NDP? Then vote for the NDP on June 28th. Show the people of Canada that we have a democracy that lives and functions as a democracy. A two-party democracy is not a democracy at all. It's two sides of the same coin politely exchanging seats around the same table. I say make a vote that makes (literally) a difference.
3 Comments:
It's scary how much the Canadian election resembles the American political landscape. We have the right-wing ideologue and corporate panderer (Bush/Harper), the slightly left-of-centre liberal and corporate panderer (Kerry/Martin), and the candidate of the public good (Nader/Layton).
The difference, I think, lies in the history and substance of the "third" party. Nader has primarily represented a protest vote for Americans; whereas Layton and the NDP are a legitimate party with a history of governance.
I will vote NDP this election, after a lifetime of voting Liberal. I hope Canada follows Spain and other countries who have voted in Leftist governments in the wake of Bush's Blunders. We have made so much progress socially, it would be a shame to give it all away to a Bush Wannabe like Stephen Harper and the remnants of the Reform Party.
Why is the NDP the only alternative to voting Liberal or Conservative? What about the Green Party?
-Pam
You bring up a good point, Pam. My apologies if my post sounds as if the NDP are the only alternative to the Liberals and Conservatives. They are not.
If you wish to vote for the Green Party, then go ahead. the point of my blog entry is to suggest that you should vote for the party you believe in, no matter what. Do not let anyone try and convince you that your individual vote does not matter. It does.
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