CONFUSING AND MANIPULATING THE VOTER - OUR DEMOCRACY AT WORK

CAN YOU EMERGE UNSCATHED, TO DEFEND YOUR FUNDAMENTAL FREEDOM?

In this spring’s federal election, job one, is to be able to keep your head above the free-flowing, abundant, sickening bullshit, tumbling forth in a constant, annoying thud of fiction colliding with reality. Spewing like the Vesuvius of old, during the next five weeks of election vote-wrangling, it will be almost impossible to avoid the current of propaganda, and the whirlpool of exiting sewage, tugging at us to “go with the flow;” “vote for us.....vote for us.....you must vote for us.” Or else you will drown in your own stupidity. The back-room strategists don’t have a high opinion of us, you see, and this is what’s wrong with modern day campaigns. The politicians aren’t standing-up for what is right and honest, by informing strategists, there’s no room for electorate befuddling! A win at the polls, will be a strike for fair play, not evidence Canadians can be hoodwinked by smoke and mirrors, and slight of hand!

The idea, early on, is to abuse and confuse, and hope that their trickery holds the line for all the other misrepresentations, they’ll be building until early May. We are the pawns. We are the “easily shoved-about,” and the “strategically placed,” to attain an objective. Canadians? We are Canadians to the political parties, only as far as our vote goes. To think that they believe us to be anything more than a means to an end is delusional thinking. We are the “tide to turn,” and the “masses to convert.” Nothing more. And to the movers and shakers in the party

“back rooms,” we are the “stunned” and the “hopelessly adrift,” who can be brought onside with clever public relations’ manipulation. A life-ring tossed to the numb-nutters, you might say, so we can climb atop their special brand of bullshit, and float safely to their isle of nirvana.

They will try anything to get the vote for their party, and the truth just doesn’t matter. Nothing else matters. Just massaging our sensitivities and exploiting our weaknesses, like a cult recruiting the most vulnerable. The election is less about issues, and more about screwing with our minds.

So far, I’ve made a point of enduring it, versus pounding on the television remote like it’s a video game to buy some “serenity-now!” There will be a time, soon enough, when I simply have no choice but to use the remote like Shane whipped the bad-guy gunslingers.. For a few more days I want to endure this relentless barrage of political mind-bending, when bare-face lies are no longer lies, and truth is far fetched to whatever horizon they decided to lead us. I want to see just how far these folks are willing to go, to buy an election victory. I want to appreciate just how many issues they will exploit, and promise to address as a majority government, as compared to what they will forget and otherwise ignore, if they do become our nation’s leadership. I know I have to stomach it for awhile longer but I know by the anger brewing in my gut already, it’s simply not healthy to watch too much of this unsavory manipulation of democracy to suit the needs of power vampires.....who just can’t get enough blood to satisfy their ambitions.

As a writer, I know what a public relations concoction can include, and today it’s like a toxic bloom, contaminating what we all need to know and appreciate about the state of our nation. We do need to fully understand the true mission and conquests desired by our political parties. We are important to them for such a short time. We are the “flounders” to catch, program, and release. The audience to captivate. The “aimless” to channel. The “wishy washy” to launder. To the party handlers, we are nothing more than a challenge on their career paths.....and a pain in the arse when we prove more intelligent than the polls revealed.

And afterall, where would we be without polls, you say. In a much better place, I respond! Now that there are polls about every fifteen minutes, about everything imaginable, why not just save the money on the actual election, and let the pollsters call-it? Are the polls part of the manipulation exercise? Does someone out there keep score, how many times the poll results are wrong? Who is policing the pollsters? Are we being fed propaganda through polls? Do we believe what we are force-fed? Do we trust anyone? Is this what being Canadian means today? Being perpetually confused? Needing to be led to our opinions by the caress of the vested interest?

I won’t give up my independence and hard grasp of democracy, despite the manipulations and relentless porky-telling of our political parties. I know what goes on at party central. And so should you. Anchor yourself to the truths you know, and the ideal of the country we have had, and wish to maintain, and demand of candidates an honest campaign, based on realities of the day, spin-free......as the only way to earn our vote.

And put that t.v. remote in your holster. Remember Shane’s quick draw? I’m faster!