The B.C. provincial election is another political disaster in the makings.
It should be an exciting time, because it should represent an opportunity to elect a productive and responsible government with the vision and commitment to reignite our stalled economy.
But deep-rooted apathy has left voters wondering how to vote, already convinced there is not a party that meets their criteria in terms of honesty, transparency and integrity, let alone political ideology.
What difference does it make who we vote for, when we all know that the day after the election, party discipline will dictate that the people we elected in good faith will be compelled to towing the line of the respective party and government leaders, or they will be turfed?
What difference does it make, when the party that just formed the government will do like other parties have in the past: Reward the corporations and organizations that paid for the election, and continue to screw the electorate.
It is not that British Columbians are not smart voters. The problem is that the electoral system does not allow us to vote smart.
Our politicians insist they cannot govern without our outdated, dysfunctional and corrupt colonial electoral system, and the electorate is forced to choose between two political parties that we have grown to loath beyond belief.
It does not matter how intelligent the electorate is.
If there is not a party or candidate you believe that will honestly represent you and who is qualified to do the job, how can you possibly vote intelligently?
The reality is that we do not have an electoral system that can possibly represent the diverse cultural and political ideologies of the B.C. electorate.
Millions of voters have given up. They are disillusioned, disgusted, disappointed, angry and are not voting because they do not see a candidate on the ballot worthy of their vote, let alone a party that is remotely committed to represent them.
The party system has collapsed. Party members no longer develop policies, they are written by party and government leaders on the fly between meetings and elections.
We have democratic elections, but we do not have democratic governments. The people understand what is wrong with the system, but our politicians, who are the only people in position to change it, have an incredible lock on it, and will fight tooth and nail to protect it, because it has given them the pure and unadulterated powers of dictators.
Our province is on the skids, and the voters are facing what seems like a political brick wall, knowing that about one-third of the voters will elect yet another government two-thirds of the voters absolutely do not want.
Andy Thomsen
Summerland