Four Questions I Wish I Could Ask

It's a good thing my work schedule and other commitments will keep me from going to any debates. Even if I did go, as in previous elections it would most likely be a re-run of all the other times I wanted to ask a polite question from the floor, only to find that, within seconds of announcing the mike is available, I find myself at the end of a very long line, of mostly shills and party hacks who have already grabbed the microphone and are lobbing partisan questions designed to make their candidate look good and everyone else look bad. Inevitably, time runs out long before I can get to politely and respectfully voice my question on some substantive issue.

It's a good thing that I won't get to any public microphone this time, because lots of people know me as a Green and what I would ask would most likely reflect badly on our self-image as gentle, respectful people. I have lost patience with all of the other Parties and their endless petty bickering, of little real substance or value that hyperfocus on irrelevant pseudo-issues that are driving more and more people away from voting or participating in public debates. Michael Ignatieff lived abroad. So what? Are you suggesting that people who aren't born and raised here and spent all their lives here have no right to participate in government? Like some members of your own Party? What else have you got that is of some importance to eveyone's daily lives? Nothing? Really. No kidding. The Liberals aren't any better because their ultimate program is almost the same as the Conservatives to put economics before people.

That's why everyone I know who has announced they don't care to vote, usually say it's because it doesn't matter: whatever 'they' promise, whoever is in power, 'they' all appear the same, 'they' all make false claims and 'they' all spend their time in petty arguments that score points only amongst those people who love to watch arguments. Canadians are bored and disgusted and I want the people on stage to know that. I'm tired of hypocrisy and I'm tired of pretense and I'm tired of having time wasted listening to one-issue political parties that only a few die-hard cranks will ever vote for because their programs have been tried and failed miserably every time. I am only interested in hearing from people who can be honest or who can present solutions to the issues that affect the world in positive ways. So my questions, very un-Green, very rude, and very insulting, will never be asked:

1) To The Conservative: We had Brian Mulroney's Conservative government increase the deficit year on year and roll a $100Bn debt into a $580Bn debt, now followed by Steven Harper who took a $16Bn surplus and turn it into a deficit and now boasts the largest deficits in our history, so my question is, without making any reference to any other Party or government, just where do you and your supporters get the gall to claim you're "fiscally responsible" and "care about taxpayers" when we are now frittering away almost 1/3 of every tax dollar uselessly servicing YOUR debt? (i.e. please stop lying about yourselves - no one is fooled except fools.)

2) To The Liberal: While in office, the Liberal Party, for whom you proudly carry the banner, and note that many of whose members from that time are still very active in the Party, signed a multitude of trade agreements all around the globe - including with some of the most brutal regimes and vile men to be called leaders such as Ghaddafi of Libya - that explicitly ignored any considerations of workers rights or environmental protections, and now Mr Ignatieff has made lots of promises to keep the Tar Sands projects going, in despite of your long-runing pretentions to care about people and the planet, which means when push comes to shove, your Party actually put money before everything else, so my question is, how do you look at yourself in the morning? (i.e. please stop being a hypocrite and admit that human values are second to business profits.)

3) To The N.D.P.: When the Atikokan Coal-fired Power plant that spreads pollution across the Northland was scheduled to be shut down, you worked to keep it running; you made sure that GM got a bailout to protect the union jobs making gas-guzzling, fume-spewing S.U.V.s - the sale of which is the prime cause of degradation of air quality across North America since 1990 - and you pretend that because Mr. Layton has some nebulous plan to build a giant wind-farm in Manitoba that you get to wrap a green cloth around you and pretend you're environmentalists, so my question is, just how gullible do you think we are? (i.e. stop pretending to be something you're not.)

4) To Every Other Party Taking Up Debate Time: (in particular the Libertarians and Communist-types) You have presented your platforms. Now, your democratic right to stand up and make your case notwithstanding, either provide the names of five (5) industrialized countries that have, since 1800, implemented your policies - or at least policies as close as possible to your ideal - that resulted in open, free societies with equitable wealth distribution and did not result in appalling disparity, massive poverty, and crushing oppression or, if you cannot, would you please fuck off, go home, and stop wasting everybody's time peddling your snake-oil? (i.e. prove it works and is worth hearing.)

(Greens should be able to handle all of those, since everything we propose has worked fine somewhere else and our candidates should know that important fact.)

I think it's long past time to clear the air and demand honesty from those who would be our leaders, because we need real leaders.