Ditto for the people I know.
Also disturbing are the people I've spoken to who want someone in charge they can have a beer with. They are so mistrusting of all politicians, believing every one of them to be dishonest. What an insulting world view! There's no convincing them that not every politician is robbing the cookie jar. They believe if they can elect a regular guy, a schmo with a slogan who respects their tax dollars, says no to all spending (quite literally all - to the point of shutting down government), that only then will things change for the better. If you try to explain that government needs taxes for important stuff like infrastructure, their brains implode.
I want the person in charge to be smarter than me. Someone with a brilliant mind and creative ideas. A critical thinker. An individual with zero tolerance for bullshit and bullies. I want the most "elite" candidate available. An urban culture lovin' elegant human being who represents us with dignity and brings out the best in others. Someone who will restore hope, confidence and pride. I want this person to be BETTER than me.
Maybe I'm old fashioned but if any of my beer swilling, recreational drug ingesting, over-fed, credit card abusin', gassy friends ran for any level of politics, I'd be mortified.
We've had quite enough of divisiveness in politics. Those us vs them, they're not like us, leftard/conbot sayin' jackasses. It breaks my heart to hear the Fords on the radio putting down most of the population; gays, women, lefties, small 'c' conservatives, police, public servants, teachers, unions, cyclists, homeless people, seniors, the poor, immigrants. He's an embarrassment and I'm gobsmacked when I hear anyone defend and support the idiocy of it all. "I like Ford, he seems like a nice guy and I'd rather have a beer with him than that socialist spend-thrift Miller." Political spin and propaganda being vomited from the pie-holes of feckless voters, none of whom understand the substratal influence of their so-called "free will" choices at the voting booth.
I get that people are weary of the same old-same old. But the intellectual laziness that has gripped our culture is not just alarming, it apocalyptic. At every level of government voters have abandoned their responsibilities and allowed the loudest, brassiest, most insidiously evil fucks slide into power. These same people who complain that politics are rigged lack any sense of outrage when a politician does go rogue.
As people distract themselves with the latest tv Idol contest, their quality of life is dying a death from a thousand papercuts. These same 'folks' meticulously research all the latest internet conspiracy theories, and develop night terrors about the impending new world order. But they will give only a cursory glance at news sources which confirm their own brand of political bias leading up to voting day. Rather than recognize the very real and present dangers of voter apathy, they would spend their time warning equally nescient friends and family that George Orwell was right via 'shared' and 'liked' spammy facebook memes over a broadband network owned by one of the Canadian national duopolies. The irony is wasted.
I know this has turned into a rant but I'm stunned that 28% of people still believe that Ford is a reasonable choice or deserving of the every-man title. Deep down they have to know that this millionaire Tommy Boy man-child has never spent a day, an hour or indeed a minute in common shoes.
