Election Day Eve

WARNING: This post is a little redundant in some parts. But I hope you enjoy it anyway.

On the day before the election, it feels somehow inappropriate to write about anything else. And yet I feel as though I have nothing to contribute to the conversation; no matter how closely I follow this campaign and how much research I do, I still don't know enough to offer an educated opinion about any of this. I know more or less where I stand on the political spectrum. But there's nothing I can say that hasn't already been said better by someone better informed. So don't expect anything new here. And as far as saying anything about my own politics goes, I'd most likely be preaching to the choir in this medium. I'll leave the in-depth speculation and soapboxing to the critics, pundits and pollsters.

What I will reiterate is one of the most urgent messages of all: we cannot take for granted what other people under autocratic regimes all over the world are dying to do. I keep reading articles about the surge in the NDP's popularity and how this is may herald a more galvanized votership and lead to higher turnout tomorrow. But then, it may not. Apathy is a powerful foe, even at this point, and we just don't know what it will look like until the day. So this message needs to be repeated. Social and political inertia is the result of an unnecessary self-fulfilling prophecy of cynicism. Just because something has been a certain way for as long as you can remember, doesn't mean it will be that way forever. Look at Egypt. Southern Sudan. Tunisia. Hell, look at Calgary's recent mayoral election! Just look at these, dag nabbit!

Please vote, everybody. Please. It's likely that I'm preaching to the choir and 90% of the people who read this are going to show up to the polls on Monday, but it's important to remember, even in the 11th hour.

For those who plan on voting strategically, here's a very useful tool that might help. It's called Project Democracy, and it shows how each party is faring on a riding by riding basis. You can see who has the best chance of beating a Conservative candidate in your riding, be it NDP or Liberal, and put your vote towards that candidate. As a lot of NDP-voters for the first time have the luxury of following their heart and their head, some Liberal supporters are for once in the opposite position. Hopefully this site will help both to make the best decision possible.

I also want to say that however things turn out tomorrow, whoever you vote for, and in spite of all the childish nonsense that reigns supreme in Ottawa, how blest are we to live in a country where we can speak openly against the status quo? We don't need to live in fear of heavy censorship and secret police. It might sounds fanciful to talk of these things, but lest we forget there are many places where this is still a reality. We can be critical, even to the point of real change (however rare that may be). There is the possibility for dialogue. There is public space for public anger. Stephen Harper can call it the "Harper Government", and there's nothing he can do to stop any one of us from speaking out against that absurd title, and for that I'm proud to be Canadian. There are a lot of major problems with our system, but even if our cries falls on deaf ears, we still won't have thugs busting into our houses in the middle of the night and putting away our dissidents into dark places never to be seen or heard from again.

Don't get me wrong. Prejudice, inequality, and injustice are rampant in Canada, but, as far as I know, we don't live in a country of pogroms, killing fields, and Kristallnacht. And, in the words of Martha Stewart, that's a good thing.