Every election, the guilt and shame police come out and tell everyone “Vote — or no complaining about your government.”
We don’t believe in this kind of reproachful approach. We’re not going to just push people to the ballot boxes.
We’re going to push you to learn about what power that ballot has and what a check mark on it means.
Whether your personal interests lie in oil and gas, the environment, LGBTQ+ issues, balanced budgets, education or seniors’ care, we suggest that everyone could look at the bigger picture more deeply.
According to a rather dated article from 1980 by Edward Carmines and James Stimson, one type of issue voting happens when a particular issue becomes so ingrained over a long period that it structures voters’ “gut responses” to candidates and political parties.
Let’s try a little experiment.
Which party do you associate with good environmental policy?
With business-friendly policy?
Which do you associate with fiscal responsibility?
What about human rights?
Why?
Which of these things is most important to you? Is that the party you’re voting for? What are the actual, actionable items that party has either accomplished or advocated for with respect to that issue?
Most importantly — what do you know about the other parties’ platforms and actions on that topic?
Issue voting like this has shaped our political spheres into false dichotomies and attack zones.
The way that you vote April 16 not only dictates the government you will have, but it also changes the way subsequent campaigns will be run, how political parties will shift and change to zero in on your vote.
If we as citizens and media organizations do not take deeper, more intelligent looks at the politics and instead bite on easy, divisive, issues-based bait, we’re going to find ourselves dead in the water.
The way things are going these days, Albertan political parties will likely continue their long-lasting trudge toward combat and spectacle.
Why not let your informed vote tell them we deserve better than that?
