Making It Up As I Go Along #438

One... Two... Three... and Rob Ford is Your Heavyweight Champion!”
Politics.... who will save us from politics?

As the years go on, politicians are getting worse. Or is it that I’m getting more attuned to the game that these people play?

The world celebrates great politicians simply because there are so few of them. Obama has given the appearance to be one. But over the last year and more, his image has been battered and the magic that was Obama has dimmed to what appears to be less the Great Houdini and more the amateur birthday party trickster.

In Obama’s case, it’s hard to tell what’s real. Did Obama fool us with a slick image and preacher on the mound speeches? Or has the right wing of America slandered him to the point that nobody knows what’s right or wrong? It’s almost impossible to know.

In Canada, politicians have become panderers and bullies. Leadership is no longer a word they understand. Nor is it any longer a word that Canadians demand. Lies are told as election promises... mentioned for a few weeks by the press when not kept... and finally forgotten, and accepted, by all. Usually with the brush off phrase that “sometimes politicians promise too much while on the campaign trail.”

It is to the point where I no longer want to see any politician given the title “Right Honourable”. Such title should be earned... not handed out willy nilly.

Today Rob Ford became mayor of Toronto. Ford is a fine example to point to when one makes the claim that municipal politics is the least professional of all. This man belongs in a wrestling ring. He wouldn’t even be considered one of the smart, well spoken wrestlers. This is one of those wrestlers that gets up and shouts incoherently about nothing while plastering his face with a fake, over the top scowl.

But Mayor of Canada’s biggest city he now is... and it all seems about right in our political world. Where you’re left to wonder if anyone in the voting public is actually taking this thing called democracy seriously anymore.

Ottawa’s mayor and city councilors are also decided. And for weeks I’ve seen how democracy works. Pamphlets in the mailbox... short on substance and heavy on picture with name. And no longer do the candidates actually try talking to you as the pamphlets go out. Several times I was home all day, finding the pamphlet deposited without the slightest knock on the door or ring of the bell. And my home phone was spammed with candidate voices. Recorded ones. Automated calls giving automated conversations. While, outside of the house, every intersection a mass of billboard names.

Name recognition and image has overtaken substance and policy in today’s politics. And with the idea that it is our duty to vote ingrained into our brains, we go out with minimal information... voting for the name that best got subliminally implanted into us.



MONDAY...
— Back to work. Still somewhat rusty with CPSIC... still some doubt with some of the work. A year away makes a difference.

TUESDAY...
— Busy day at work. Lots of running around in the afternoon. It was alright actually. Good to be thinking.
— Keg with Geoff after work. Good times.
— Back to my place after that. Hang out and talk a while... watch some stuff on TV.

WEDNESDAY...
— Mom and dad arrive this morning. A bit of shopping with them and lunch at Kelsey’s followed by Chinese food for supper and some TV after that. Nice having them around.

THURSDAY...
— A little shopping with mom and dad... supper at Montana’s... Crazy Heart on Blue Ray to end the night.

FRIDAY...
— Some morning grocery shopping... supper downtown followed by the ballet at the National Arts Centre. Actually turned out alright. The second and third parts were not traditional ballet and were pretty impressive.
— Snow falling on the walk back to the car tonight. Ugh.

SATURDAY...
— Mere Bleue walk... bombarded by chickadees. Paula and Eddie come for supper. Good ham and nice times with family.

SUNDAY...
— Some shopping and over to my ball game. Mom and dad watching me play. Make an error in front of the parents and we tie the game. But oh well.
— Boston Pizza for supper and some quiet TV time.