Tuesday, 07 April 2009
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disillusioned
7 April 2009
Our political process sucks !
There. I said it.
You may now call me a traitor, an ungrateful immigrant, an ignorant teenager who needs to learn to keep her mouth shut.
In the meantime, let me tell you a story.
The other night, I went and volunteered at a candidate's campaign headquarters(HQ). I was actually pretty excited about it and was eager to do anything to help.
Arriving at HQ, I was taught how to "man" the phones. There I was, script on computer, random phone number in sight, and surveying away. I ended up calling more than 60 houses that night. But the funny thing was, I didn't feel accomplished at all.
I left that place feeling violated. I felt sick and disgusted by what I was doing. Calling random strangers up, trying to get on their good side, not caring what time it is (dinner-ish).
I learned a couple of things that night:
- Politics is a numbers game.
It doesn't matter who actually likes you and how good your platform is. What matters is translating that support into numbers in the voting polls. - There are people who are just apathetic.
They don't care who gets voted in. Usually, these people are the most outspoken critics of the government. - There are people who are extremely partisan when they vote.
"Sorry, I only vote [insert pary here]."
"Oh! He's a [party A]? Okay, I'll vote for him."
And all these without even knowing what the candidate's platforms are. - People hate being called during dinner time.
No duh.
- Telemarketers have pretty crappy jobs.
People usually hate you. And it's not your faut you sound like robots.
I didn't even mind that people were rude or outspoken. But it bugged me how issues didn't matter.
Politics, at least from what I've seen, isn't really trying your best to make a difference in your community. It's about getting that spot at Parliament Hill, getting that hefty pension plan secured. It's about photo ops and putting on a face of actively caring. It's about popularity and fame.
We need better representation--and younger people--in Parliament (and Legislative Assemblies)! People who are actually in touch with what this society needs.
I wonder, if politics didn't pay so much, would anyone even bother doing it?
- Politics is a numbers game.
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Comments (3)
you need a thick skin to play the dirty game of politics. and people who are apathetic/don't vote shouldn't be allowed to complain about their government.
What Boeboepink said. Thick skin.
o_O*
I hate politics.... but it weasels itself into EVERYTHING.
And I hate it.
= (
RYC: Hahah.. I"m sorry love, my birthday is in June.
= )
It's on June 7th - two months away.
But Happy Early Birthday to you, love.
=D
*hugs*
And cute muppets.
*wink*
@boeboepink - Dirty politics, agreed. I'm sure there are still non-corrupt politicians out there who actually want to serve others (at least, I hope so), and it's a miracle that they managed to keep their morality and humanity while in office.
@Vitamin_D - I hate how politics has become. Gah! Apparently, the US is the New Canada & vice versa. I don't even want to think about it sometimes. Haha, it's so depressing.