Only Motivated Voters May End the Evil Genius
(By Adv Tariq M Javed)
It’s
believed that the declining voter turnout actually helps the interested
candidates regardless of their past standing. This is why Steven Harper, among
other things, has been enjoying his political longevity; he also enjoys being
addicted to hit his rivals with attack ads. The negative ads and the related
technologies have adversely affected the independence of electoral process in
the past polls. He succeeded in keeping the moderate, alienated and apathetic
voters out of polling stations. Unfortunately, political wrangling is not free
from the polluting gimmicks that are responsible for the resulted questionable
democracy at the end. Shockingly, the political marketers usually take undue advantage
by employing hardcore propaganda in order to keep potential voters away from
the polls.
However,
there is always a tipping point where things start turning around for the
better. Let’s be optimistic to witness a huge turnout of voters on Oct.19. It
seems as if most of those who voted for Harper have now realized his true
colors, so they might be going for electing anyone but PC candidates. This time
around, there are groups working hard to persuade people from amongst the
members of first nations, labour unions, vets, students, and the marginal
communities of ethnic background to go for voting.
Nevertheless,
political awakening of those who are not well versed in politics is a ‘must,’ because the politically unaware
people don't realize that by not voting they are contributing to the sad demise
of Canadian democracy.
Thus,
voting and creating local groups to build some trust among one another is very
important to solve problems.
Manipulation of the naive
population: Another misleading factor is when TV channels/stations show brief
clips of the candidates looking full of energy, running here and there while
smiling for the camera; the super acting is part of the play to impress people
regardless of real merit. Another factor is the political parties are mostly
backed by the vested interests where general welfare of the people is ignored. No
matter what, the sold out biased media is doing its worst to damage the other
party as much as possible. This is how, a large majority
among the naive members of the community easily falls prey to the power hungry
candidates.
Also, the research findings illustrate that it is possible to
influence a person’s attitudes toward a political candidate using “survey questions,” which in turn may
influence his or her voting behavior.
Despite the traps, an intelligent voter always
sense what’s really cooking. Tendency to elect
idiots and the abusers is very dangerous indeed.
Older folks: The past
experience shows the politicians rarely promise new universities, free tuition,
state-subsidized daycare, or other youth-centric goodies, because younger
voters don’t care. On the other hand, the older people participate in the
electoral process seriously, which is why, politicians talk about balanced
budgets and seniors’ benefits.
In
2011, almost 80 per cent of the retirees below age 75 voted. That means the
aging baby boomers and seniors swamp younger demographics in this country.
Another important element is that the
Canadian Muslims comprise of the largest non-Christian religious denomination
in the country. There are more than 1 million Muslims in Canada according to
the last census. They make up almost 8 per cent of the population of the Greater
Toronto Area, and at least nine suburban ridings could be vulnerable to a
concerted voting effort.
“When someone says ‘I don’t think my
vote makes a difference’ we can sit down with these statistics and say: ‘Look,
you live in this key riding. You could have made a difference if more of you
came out to vote.” Muslim turnout is about half that of comparable religious
groups, said Sheikh, who thinks they feel politically disengaged after ‘‘a
tough decade’’ and what he called “a lot of hate’’ against the community. (Muneeza
Sheikh, director of communication with Canadian Muslim Vote, a non-partisan
advocacy group).
The ‘stay home’ potential voters need to be smarter and go to the polls
to exercise their constitutional right of selecting their independent choice
based on their own judgment. They shouldn’t wait for the judicial system to
keep people in check to do the right thing or the media to be impartial.
Meaning the voting public have to do their own check and balances and avoid
voting based on what they hear from the media and the attack ads.
The
eligible voters must come out to vote the right candidate based on the party
platforms (from head to toe) to ascertain quality of candidates and the program
of their respective parties
Governments
have been failing to deliver and they are accused of having neglected the
general welfare of the future generation by piling up indebtedness. Short term
gains followed by long term pain are certainly unacceptable.
If
democracy is to remain our preferred system, it’s up to the people to educate themselves
for voting only for ethical politicians and parties. The best thing is to
evaluate the candidates through asking questions.
Most
definitely, the parties that will make decisions and bring legislation allowing
for the long-term general welfare including financial health of the populace,
are the most fit to govern.
The
workings of the municipal, provincial and federal Governments must be dissected
and taught with clarity. It must be brought to every student’s attention that
Government continually affects every day of their lives and well-being.
There
is a need of a level playing field to offer freedom to all candidates to tilt
the field in his favor, yet the voters should not be made addicted based on
false offers to win them at the polls.
Surely,
the truly educated people will have a Government that delivers the best.
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