Journeyman Philosopher

After watching the Canadian political debates the other day I was left quite satisfied. There were some decent questions, but the one that held my interest the most was on the topic of trust.

Many Canadian citizens have lost hope in our political system. I personally believe this isn’t necessarily because a lack of positive progress but rather because a lack of empathy. The question that was addressed paraphrased follows “How can the average Canadian, that has lost faith in the Canadian political system, know which politician to trust with their vote?”

This is a great question, and I know it is one I have had to put a lot of thought into myself.

My philosophy has always been to vote for who you find to be the most authentic leader. I do this because it removes skeptical thought to a certain degree. Politicians will promise many things and although they may authentically be trying to make these promises come about, they may not have the ability to fulfill their promises due to the constraints of time and the political process. Not to mention that if a leader is not authentic it won’t matter what he promises. Voting for who you feel is the most genuine is a sure fire way to, at the very least, give yourself confidence in your leaders intent governing his action.

This is a valuable concept, but is not free from problems. Should you vote for the most authentic evil leader? No. One thing that must be taken into consideration is finding a compromise between your values and the authenticity of the leader. For example, although I myself love the concepts of the NDP I do think that Stefan Dion would make a better Prime Minister than Jack Layton. How you determine the right choice between an authentic totalitarian general, and a unauthentic hippie politician is up to you.

Making a decision on who you will vote for is not simple, however it is something that every Canadian should make a commitment to doing.

There are a few concepts I’d like to talk about in the future; the idea of your vote being wasted, the concept of majority governments being incompatible with the theory of democracy, and how I believe the voting system should be modified to represent this accordingly.

Hopefully this has been of some help to all those not feeling completely comfortable with voting. Take your time, think about it, and get out there and vote!