Fear & Loathing Report: Why Bother??

Today and tomorrow there will be the televised debates, during which most Canadians will decide who they will vote for. Today’s debates are in French, tomorrow’s in English.


Today and tomorrow there will be the televised debates, during which most Canadians will decide who they will vote for. Today’s debates are in French, tomorrow’s in English.

I suppose it is a good time to think about why one bothers to relate to elections at all. The major decisions aren’t up for decision — economic decisions are controlled by corporations, and no one asks people about major political decisions either. What decent policies exist were wrung from elites in struggles, not by voting. What’s more, the media — controlled by corporations — can virtually pick the winner. And what’s more than that, the whole constellation of social forces, the domestic and international context, all matter a whole lot more than the label of the party in power. A Conservative government before neoliberalism completely took over would have enacted policies much easier to swallow than an NDP government in neoliberal days. We’re in the middle of a period of serious rollback, and that fact dominates the entire political landscape, whoever will be in power.

This is all true, but that doesn’t make elections irrelevant. Even in a system that is fundamentally unjust there are better and worse policies and options. It is also a time when people are thinking about politics, so it’s worth relating, especially if it’s done without being ‘taken in’ by it all…

So, that’s the justification for the ongoing FLR. Debates roundups after the debates!

Author: Justin Podur

Author of Siegebreakers. Ecology. Environmental Science. Political Science. Anti-imperialism. Political fiction. Teach at York U's FES. Author. Writer at ZNet, TeleSUR, AlterNet, Ricochet, and the Independent Media Institute.