{"id":2600,"date":"2015-10-18T20:54:24","date_gmt":"2015-10-18T20:54:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/?p=2600"},"modified":"2015-10-18T21:06:35","modified_gmt":"2015-10-18T21:06:35","slug":"voting-didnt-feel-like-enough-this-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/vwxynot\/2015\/10\/18\/voting-didnt-feel-like-enough-this-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Voting didn’t feel like enough this time"},"content":{"rendered":"

There’s a federal election in Canada tomorrow. I’ve always been very interested in politics, but this time around I feel more invested than ever before. Specifically, I want Harper out, with extreme prejudice. (If you don’t follow Canadian politics and aren’t sure what a politician could do to inspire such hatred, this recent Guardian<\/em> article<\/a> is a great place to start).<\/p>\n

Things are scarily close, though, and there’s a very real danger that the centre and left could split the vote again (Harper got a majority government last time with 39% of the popular vote on a 60% voter turn-out – i.e. less than a quarter of eligible voters chose his party. Hopefully we’ll end up with a government that wants to explore electoral reform). I’m nervous and antsy, and have been so throughout this entire (longest ever) election campaign.<\/p>\n

I always knew I was going to vote for the New Democratic Party (NDP). I overlap with them, the Liberals, and the Greens on various issues, but the NDP are the best overall match to my values (as depicted by my answers to this year’s Vote Compass<\/a> survey).<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/enniscath\/status\/640253446906511360\/photo\/1<\/a><\/p>\n

In addition, my local candidate Don Davies<\/a> is a good guy and a great local representative – very responsive<\/a>\u00a0and hard-working. If I lived in another riding I would be seriously thinking about voting strategically to block the Tories, but luckily I don’t have to do that in Vancouver Kingsway, where the Liberals have come in third in the last couple of elections. Yay for getting to vote the way I want to, even in an outdated first-pass-the-post system!<\/p>\n

So, my vote was already secure (in fact I’ve already voted for Don, in the advance polls last weekend). But this time, voting didn’t seem like enough. Yelling at my TV during every Harper commercial and ranting on social media (sorry, non-Canadian Facebook friends) didn’t seem like enough either. I don’t just want Harper out, I want to help make it happen. So I’ve put my money, my time, and my vacation days where my mouth is:<\/p>\n