In today’s Ottawa Citizen, I tell my Canadian friends not to worry about their historically low levels of turnout in the last election.
Who knows if my insane call for responsible voting or the insidious tactics of ACORN pose the greater threat to the legitimacy of our democracy!?
Excellent article. As a Canadain abstainer I agree completely with your analysis. Most importantly, I like your comment on how there are ways other than voting which can be a public good.
I usually show up to vote, but I have occasionally skipped local elections when I couldn't be bothered to learn about the issues or didn't really believe the outcome would affect. My wife has complained that when I do that, I'm a poor citizen, so it was nice to see your contrarian piece.
The consensus finding of political scientists is that voters — lettered and unlettered, rich and poor — tend to vote in good faith to promote what they see as the public good. That's good news
No it isn't.
Meh. The insidious tactics of the GOP are a far bigger risk than ACORN, IMO – http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/2363… etc.
Speaking as a Canadian voter, I'm puzzled as to why so many people found our five way battle royale boring.
Low turnout can be blamed in part on the election's being scheduled to occur the day after the Thanksgiving long weekend (some people traveling, some people high on tryptophan). I suspect that Harper was hoping for this effect when he called the election.
What “insidious” tactics are you referring to?
What “insidious” tactics are you referring to?