These are not good times for democracy! (feedback)

Well, before I really got going this morning, I had heard from several people. Without identifying them here are some of their comments:

• I’ve decided to follow the most recent Canadian trend, and vote for the candidate with the most physically attractive party leader. That way, we can be lied to by the prettiest person, which apparently is quite pleasant.

• We Christians are a people of Faith and Hope with the emphasis on Hope. Alas, you didn’t seem to find much at your all-candidates meeting. The saddest part is that I agree with your assessment on a national basis. Our politicians, in their clever manipulations, have reduced the democratic process to a series of sound bites to be doled out like candy to the slavering mobs (who seem to have lost virtually all interest in the process). Then, when the duly elected finally assemble, power is concentrated in the PMO and we end up appearing to be living in a carefully disguised dictatorship with our elected representatives being forced to toe the party line or be relegated to the back bench or independent status with no say in anything. I really hope that my assessment is totally off the mark but I fear it is too close for comfort.
I despair that we are losing our strong press who used to challenge things like this and provide a modicum of counter-balance to it all. Sounds like your panel members were hard pressed to work up a decent question let alone a good probe.
Keep writing

• A great reason for Elections Canada to include “None of the above” as a valid, countable vote!

• Well, what did you expect? With the dearth of strong, focused leadership and media that only spend their time on minutiae while failing to really probe the difficult questions, why would you expect there to be solid, dynamic, visionary candidates who truly know what a federal politician should be doing in office? And we saw what happens when good people do stand up, they don’t even get to apologize before they are booted from their own party.