Conservative Canada?

Yesterday's Canadian elections have provided me an opportunity to make comments I've been just dying to make. For those who don't know, Canada "went conservative" yesterday by voting in new leadership from the Conservative party. (This post will not address the differences between US and Canadian definitions of "conversative" and "liberal", but suffice it to say that they are, indeed, different.) The purpose of this post is to talk about how rank-and-file citizens view politics.

My political views aren't secret from too many people. I love me some conservatives. Living in the DC-area has clouded my beliefs on something that I used to overwhelmingly believe. That is: "people don't care about politics". In fact, they care much more about politicians than politics. And they don't care much about THEM.

Let me explain. Canada "went conservative" because of scandal within the Liberal party. From my understanding, the scandal up there makes Jack Abramoff and Tom Delay look like nuns (try to avoid the visual there). This provides the perfect case study for my viewpoint. The way they voted yesterday proves that people, at least those people, don't care whether or not their political views are inacted in the form of legislation. If I am a Canadian "liberal", and I voted Conservative, I have basically given the next X-number of years over to the decision-making of those who disagree with me. Does that make sense?

Now, I think corruption should be dealt with (first, it must be proven, but that's a whole other story). I really just hope that, come November, American conservatives will remember that dealing with corruption and surrendering your political views are two widely different things. If you believe Tom Delay is a crook (I'm talking to you TX-22), vote him out! But if you believe in conservative political ideals, replace him with a conservative, not a liberal who tells you that he'll be better simply by not taking dirty money.

Face it. Canada is a liberal place. I'd venture a guess that the average Canadian will regret their vote over the next few years. From their viewpoint, they voted for the right reason but the wrong person. (From my viewpoint, and Canadian conservative is still better than a Canadian liberal....although I'd probably still rather have John Kerry running Canada.....or not.)

In the end, I doubt this article will get as much play as my epic treatise "iHate", but I had fun writing it anyway. It baffles me how anyone can claim to be conservative or liberal and EVER vote for someone who is on the opposite side. The opponent might be a nicer guy, better looking, have kissed your baby, gone to your church, or whatever...but if you truly feel strongly about the issues that comprise your political viewpoint, you aren't doing yourself any favors by voting against it for the sake of something superficial.