During the 2008 US elections I was living in the United States. I saw countless ad campaigns that disparaged the speaker’s opponents with allegations of every kind, on both federal and state levels. Some of these allegations were true, though exaggerated, and others were wildly fallacious. One could hardly help but notice how infrequently the candidates actually spoke about themselves or where they stood on issues.

I rapidly realized that in a country where few voters would take the time to seek out the truth about how their chosen candidate had voted or the changes he or she had made in the positions they currently held, these short television ads were going to be the basis of the decisions they made. These campaigns were no longer about who had the best ideas, the best track record or the most promising history. It was about who had the nicest suit, the fullest head of hair and the most entrancing manner of speaking. It was all a show.

Since the very first televised debates the way voters view candidates and campaigns has changed considerably. We can see when our candidates sweat, when they blush, when they snicker. I would like to think that in a country with a considerably smaller population and, lets face it, considerably less exciting politics, we don’t get caught up in the hype of insults and bullying that is thrown around the hill like handfuls of sand in a sandbox.

One can only look on in silent and disappointed awe when full grown adults exhibit behaviour that seems more at home on a play ground. Like Stephen Harper suggesting that opposition party members care more for Taliban leaders than Canadian soldiers or conservative MPs name calling with creative monikers like “Burqa Black”. Never mind the flyers in circulation that are suggesting the Liberal party is full of anti-Semitic terrorist empathizers.

While all of this is sad to hear, perhaps the most disquieting outcome of all this is the risk that voters will take this information at face value and base their ballots on the childish banter that is taking over the hill.

Related posts:

1. The Threat of Elections Why is it that everything Stephen Harper tries to do...
2. What Do Nov. 9 By-Elections (Yawn) Mean for Child, Youth, and Family Advocates? We may have escaped a general election this fall, but...
3. Top 10 Changes that Should be Made to Canadian Politics First of all, I want to thank InformedVote for giving...
4. Canadian Politics And The Media These days, Canadian politics is dominated by a surge of...
5. What’s Wrong With Canadian Politics and a Warm Welcome to my First Blog Post! I am a firm believer that despite everyone’s claims, very...

Tags: canadian politics, obama, stephen harper, us election

This entry was posted on Monday, November 23rd, 2009 at 8:03 pm and is filed under Federal Government. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.