To Vote or Not?

I live in Ontario. It’s an election-prone province, in fact, we will have one in October – on the 6th to be exact. I don’t know how many political parties there are but Liberal, Conservative, and NDP are the top three in the running. Now and then, I hear about the Green Party and even a Communist Party, so there you go, Ontarians have plenty of options.




But on what do you base your vote?



People I know, and many Ontarians are apathetic towards political parties. They feel betrayed because of broken promises, incompetence, and opportunistic acts by politicians. They feel insulted when people who are running for office make statements and claims under the guise of promoting their constituents’ welfare when in reality, they just want to be elected and embed themselves in positions of power and influence. So, to much of this, the response of the voting public has been despondency and apathy.



Can my vote make a difference?



One of the hallmarks of democracy is suffrage. People in power are there because we put them there by exercising or not exercising our right to vote. Someone said “we get the government we deserve”. If our society is governed by oppression, incompetence, or gross corruption, let us look to ourselves because our decision to be indifferent, or to resort to inaction, unlocks the door of opportunity for these undeserving individuals to be our leaders.



To answer the questions I posed above, I say:



Let us base our vote on people who, or party that, value our convictions. Let us exert reasonable effort to know what they stand on. Whenever possible, let us get to know them as individuals, for whether they care to admit it or not, their decisions as political leaders will have lasting repercussions on our lives as Ontarians and Canadians.



Yes, your single vote can make a difference. It may only be a ripple but ripples get noticed, and change the aquatic texture of even the boundless oceans.