Thursday, April 25, 2013

Decisions, Decisions

The Tyee has me tied up in knots.

According to  the paper, the BC NDP are poised to mop the floor with Christy Clark and her decidedly-conservative Liberals, ending their twelve year reign of terror.  That's the good news.

The bad news from The Tyee comes from their riding by riding outlook.  My riding, formerly a Liberal stronghold, is judged "too close to call."

Adrian Dix has the appearances of being ready to govern the province.  I would almost certainly support the NDP if I thought the outcome of the election was in doubt.  Much as I'd like to see the Liberal hold on my riding finally broken, I'm also a Green Party supporter.  The Greens have no chance of winning my riding, none at all.

Ah, decisions, decisions.  Will it be Greens or the NDP?

2 comments:

Elliott Taylor said...

I have reached a point when I realize that there is slim to no chance of a truly progressive voice being elected to office in my lifetime.

Spencer Chandra Herbert is sure to win Vancouver West End, his margin was some 4,000 votes last go-around, so I am comfortable voting for Jodie Emery. Like you though, I am not so sure I would vote Green if there was a chance that a Liberal would sneak up the middle.

I can see what a tough choice you have. I wouldn't want a BC Liberal representing me either, and like you I am a Green. On the other hand the BC Green Party will never grow if they can't get people to vote for them. Much as I think we should grow the Green vote, there are instances where we need to vote strategically, and yours may be such an instance. It may just not be their time... yet.

The Mound of Sound said...

Actually, Elliott, I wouldn't give up on progressivism just yet. In its wake, a lot of people declared the Occupy movement a failure. I questioned why they would say that? Had any of the conditions that sparked the movement been improved? Were those conditions not worsening?

To me, we had just witnessed the first wave of a movement that will keep evolving and returning in great part because the conditions that fueled it will continue to fuel its successors.

We confuse difficulty with impossibility and delay or setbacks with futility. When we do that we simply yield. Can't do it. Not if you believe in the future and a responsibility to do your best for those who will have to live in it.

What you see as an insurmountable fortress is really a house of cards once we see it clearly. History shows that day always arrives, eventually, and sometimes after considerable effort and struggle.