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‘We have bonded ourselves to our fantasies’

Glen Pearson responds to Peter Donolo’s response to that Conservative fundraising letter.

How does getting anyone angry over nothing assist the political process? It doesn’t. In fact, it demeans it. Proof of this just came out over the weekend. New statistics were released showing how people view our federal political system, specifically for the years between 1999-2009.  Approval of the federal system during that decade dropped to 50% from 65% in Atlantic provinces; to 55% from 68% in Ontario; to 54% from 61% in Manitoba and Saskatchewan; and to 40% from 64% in Alberta.

The awful thing about this is that all parties know it, especially the present government, and yet it continues. Why talk about democratic renewal within parliament when we’re all bleeding voters in the country through a collective act of self-flagellation? If we admit that the more negative we get as parties the more the voter turnout declines, then why do we do it?  The answer? Because the first party that blinks could get crunched by the one that doesn’t. And so we continue, one maddening negative ad after another.

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