Gratitude 59

I am grateful for democracy.  It is not the best form of government and I tend to agree with Winston Churchill when he called democracy a very messy, nasty and inefficient process and unfortunately all other forms of government have been found to be even worse.  The problem with democracy, as I see it, is twofold: who votes, and who doesn't.  Now, we have taken as an already given, universal suffrage, for many years.  It's taken time and patience.  In Ancient Greece, the so-called cradle of democracy, only male landowners were allowed the vote.  Everyone else, including women and slaves, were excluded.  In the US and Canada during the nineteenth century it wasn't much different until early in the twentieth century when women were given the vote, then people of colour, Asians, and finally, Aboriginals in the late 1950's or so.

We have just been through our provincial election here in my province, British Columbia.  Only fifty-seven percent of eligible voters bothered to show up at the polls.  I think that many of those who did vote were primarily interested in maintaining the status quo, so, we are still stuck with that deplorable liar, Christy the Clown Clark as premier, though with only a minority government that could be still toppled in a couple of weeks when all the absentee votes are counted (only one hundred sixty thousand!).   For Her Arrogance, a rather humbling experience, no doubt, though many of us are feeling cheated of seeing her ass get really kicked.

This woman is a shameless liar, a sociopath who cares not a damn about the less fortunate, spending the past month prancing around the province chanting nonstop her neoliberalist mantra: "Jobs! Jobs!" Jobs!  The Economy!  Jobs! Jobs! Jobs!  Low taxes!  Jobs! Jobs! Jobs!  Balanced Budgets!  Jobs! Jobs! Jobs! The Economy!"  Ah, the very sight of that shameless corporate hussy, with her fake pasted on smile, while dressing to flatter her two best assets, expressing all the depth and thoughtfulness of a mud puddle after a spring shower, the way she dismissed anyone who wished to engage her on matters of policy and the human fallout of her government's morally and ethically bankrupt policies.

But this is also democracy, and we have each of us a little bit of power, called the vote.  I have said this before, and I am saying it again.  Democracy doesn't end at the ballot box.  It begins there.  Hold those bastards' feet to the fire and keep kicking their ass until they start to yield.  The environment and the rights and wellbeing of the poor and vulnerable in this province have to be given priority.  If this means a modest rise in taxes, then so be it.  It is time for the venal greedy bastards who support this government to understand taxation as a reasonable trade-off, a civic responsibility to maintain the integrity of society.  One overseas bank account less should be a very reasonable sacrifice for the public good.

They can make our lives miserable, but they can never defeat us.  And we, through our resistance, can make life even more miserable for those bastards!