Where's the fire?

Across our proud country this week, every avenue of media has been wondering aloud: "Could there possibly be a... (gasp) SUMMER election?"

Heaven forbid.

Let's just put aside the partisan tripe I normally upload into this blog (see previous posts -all), and talk like citizens, shall we?

Layton and Duceppe have prepped their kamikaze MPs to vote down the government come hell or high water, but Harper and Ignatieff are a bit more ambiguous. Each insist that they "don't want an election", but that is up to the other guy to decide what happens. Will the traitorous opposition try to throw our noble government under the bus and take us to the polls?

Snore.

Here's the issue I have with this whole display, and my discontent is aimed at both the Liberals and the Conservatives. What the hell is wrong with having an election? Seriously, how did we let ourselves get coddled by our political representatives into thinking that elections=bad? So we have a summer election. Big deal. It means that I have to take time out of my summer activities and spend an hour voting. Or, if my terribly self important life cannot allow for election day, I'll have to go through the trouble of spending an hour going to advance polling. I'm not saying we should have an election (that thought is reserved for another post) but we shouldn't let politicians use that as some kind of bargaining chip.

That's it. There may be some campaigning to watch, but I've pretty much made up my mind, and so has over 90% of the people who would actually vote. The other 10% will just have to get off the fence and figure out where their priorities lie. Oh, and getting educated about how government works so that we aren't mislead by claims that coaltions are treacherous would be a great idea as well.

Not a lot of work in exchange for living in one of the most properous and democratic countries in the world. All of those disenfranchised whiners who don't vote because they hate politicians are just making the problem worse. People need to start paying more attention and taking more responsibility for making their voices heard, it is as simple as that. Elections are expensive, yes, but when we voted in a minority government, we knew what were getting: The likelihood of having to this all over again sooner than we would prefer. Want to buy a used car and spend less than you should? Don't bitch about the repair bill when the sucker breaks down.