this post was submitted on 11 Nov 2023
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Lest we forget (our duty to cast a vote) (www.theglobeandmail.com)
submitted 1 year ago by sbv to c/[email protected]
6 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

[Wab] Kinew, speaking at the premiers’ conference in Halifax, said practising democracy is the best way to thank those who fought to defend it. “As someone who just went through an election recently, I’m very, very mindful of the sacrifices that the veterans of our great country have made so that each and every one of us can participate in this strong democracy.”

A lot of discourse focuses on the rights of Canadians: what the government owes us. Not enough space is given to the notion of duty: what we owe to each other, our communities and our country. Mr. Kinew’s excellent notion speaks to that sense of obligation, as opposed to a sense of entitlement.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

While I don't disagree with the sentiment, there is more to duty to than showing up to vote. What about the duty of the political class to offer real alternatives and then pursue the realization of those alternatives? If the only choices are in the details of how we get screwed over, it's not exactly that big a deal whether we vote or not.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The names on the ballot are chosen by the people who care enought to get involved in party politics well before the election.

If you want better choices on the ballot, then get involved sooner.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Been there, done that. Simply joining the political class is insufficient. I now work even earlier in the process: family, friends, acquaintances, and community groups.

You're right in that the solution is ultimately to change who belongs to the political class, but that requires a lot of organizing from outside the machine in order to develop the skills and programs and platforms.

I'm just disillusioned by the fact that too few people follow the science, understand the research, think logically, are willing to give new things an honest try, or show a modicum of decency.

[–] sbv 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

"more to duty than showing up to vote" is addressed in the second paragraph that I quoted:

Not enough space is given to the notion of duty: what we owe to each other, our communities and our country. Mr. Kinew's excellent notion speaks to that sense of obligation, as opposed to a sense of entitlement.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

So it is. I was reading that as being applicable to the general public, not necessarily including the political class. That's what I read, though, not what was said.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:

But Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew had a much better suggestion this week as to how to honour the memory and sacrifice of veterans: voting.

“As someone who just went through an election recently, I’m very, very mindful of the sacrifices that the veterans of our great country have made so that each and every one of us can participate in this strong democracy.”

Voter turnout was a relatively health 79 per cent in the 1962 federal election, the first vote in which First Nations peoples were fully included.

As the accompanying chart shows, turnout softened somewhat over the subsequent two-and-a-half decades, but still hovered around the 75-per-cent mark, with the occasional dip.

But negative campaigns are no new innovation: Progressive Conservative leader Brian Mulroney was accused of being a traitor over his free-trade proposal in the 1988 election.

And it’s a choice, as Mr. Kinew has wisely pointed out, that honours those who fought, and too often died, to secure our democratic freedoms.

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