The Election Process

"A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have."
Thomas Jefferson

With federal elections going on in both Canada and the United States, it seems appropriate to take a moment and think about the way we govern ourselves.

Firstly, that's an interesting concept right there. "Govern ourselves." Do those words really have any meaning anymore? It seems that we have given up that right, to rule our own paths, to others, we even pay them to do it. We delude ourselves into thinking that we have control by saying that we chose them to represent us.

Here in Canada, at least, this just isn't the case by and large. The parties decide who will run in each riding (or electoral district for those who don't speak Canadian) on their behalf. Only members of the party in question are welcome to submit their name for nomination. Every now and then, some maverick will put their name forward as an Independent candidate. On rare occasions, they actually get a seat in the House.

It would be nice if the people we elected were truly our representatives, voting the way the constituents tell them.

In the same train of thought, it is very interesting in how we choose (and I use that word loosely) the actual leaders of our respective countries.

Here in Canada, the leader of the party with the most seats in the House of Commons becomes the Prime Minister. He or she will remain in that post as long as his/her party is in power and feels that he/she should remain as leader of the party. The only limitation is that there must be an election a minimum of every five years. In other words, we the citizens do not actually have a say in who the person is who will represent us to the world.

In the United States, you choose who will represent you as President directly. However, if he or she happens to be of a different party or ideology than the majority of Congress, there is little can be done because of the struggle between the Legislative and Executive branches of the government.

And I still do not understand the whole "electoral college" thing either. From what I see, it's quite possible for the college to override the wishes of the people in choosing who the President is going to be. Forgive me if I am in error. As I stated, the whole concept eludes me.

Which brings us to the major difference in the election process between Canada and the United States. You will never hear about broken ballot computers or hanging chads in Canada. It's simple people. The candidates names are written on a slip of paper with a circle next to it. You put a mark in the circle next to the name of the person you are voting for. Questions about the numbers? Each party has one scrutineer watching as the ballots are recounted, twice. The candidate with the most valid ballots wins.

All the same, sometimes I am still tempted to put in a write in vote for Bullwinkle J. Moose.