Sorry for not having written anything for a while. All of my writing has taken a hit these last few months, I got out of the groove. Well, time to get back into it.
Shortly after I moved to Calgary, I started a blog (which I since discontinued) called "The Reluctant Voter". It was meant to express my dissatisfaction at how politics in this country works. I stopped it largely because I didn't have time, and I found it to be quite frustrating dwelling on the negative. This does not mean that I lost interest in politics, but writing about it constantly became emotionally draining. I still follow politics, and I still find it discouraging, but I keep up to date on it out of sense that it is a necessary evil. Over the last several years I engaged with friends and strangers alike over political issues, and I sadly found that I got too involved in the negativity. After the last US election in 2016 and the federal and provincial elections in 2015, I needed a change. I needed and deserved better than what I was giving and receiving. I still spoke up when things weren't right. I still engaged in the discourse. What I needed was to reduce the toxicity as much as possible.
Yesterday we here in Alberta went to the polls and elected a new government. We told Rachel Notley and her NDP government that they were a "one-and-done" government and gave Jason Kenney and the United Conservative Party a clear mandate. The election was particularly nasty. Barbara became frustrated because every time she watched a YoutTube video aimed at kids, there were anti-UCP ads from the NDP running. It was frustrating that as a parent my kids were being subjected to the toxic environment of our current political climate. I do not appreciate how NDP supporters were teaching my daughters to hate. The UCP side of things wasn't much better. Seeing how this election was going, I made a choice to mute anything and anyone that posted such divisive nonsense on Facebook. I ended up with a refreshingly positive Facebook feed for the last few weeks. Now that it is over, I had hoped that we could get back to working together as a province at improving things.
24 hours removed from the results, and things are still troubling for me. It reminds me of what happened four years ago when the NDP won, just that the roles are reversed. Those who voted for the winning team are gloating and those who voted for the losing team are fearful. Same outcome, just swapped sides. A lot of us are just trying to get on with our lives and move forward, but the continued negativity concerns me. The memes still get circulated, the insults still get hurled, and the two sides remain distant. The politicians are saying that they will work together and work for all Albertans, but yet again I have my doubts.
I get the celebration of the victors. The people you wanted to win did in fact win! That should make you happy. Yet why do some feel the need to rub salt in the wounds of those who lost? Why must we look at our political opponents as being less than human? Why do we relish in their tears and worries? Again, this happened four years ago, and it is happening again now. I also get the worries of the defeated. The people you wanted to win lost. They lost big. You wonder if the values and issues that are important to you are going to be ignored. You worry that your way of life is going to be harmed. Those are legitimate concerns. When the NDP won four years ago, I was afraid that charter schools would be hurt and held down. When the UCP won this time, I was worried that fighting with BC, Ottawa, and everyone else in this country was going to put us further back in our economic recovery. Guess what? Charter schools did suffer under Notley's rule. Legislation was passed that put us at a disadvantage. The funding to rebuild my high school was taken away, and only after a great grassroots fight did the NDP give us the full funding (and, naturally, took full credit for it while forgetting that they took the funding in the first place). However, in spite of those setbacks, I do feel that the NDP gained a better understanding about charter schools during the last four years. I do feel that they are more on our side than they were before. So, with the concerns that people have about the UCP, I get it. Your concerns are valid, but be don't get swallowed up in the doom and gloom. Be vigilant when things start to go against you, but be prepared for the realization that maybe, just maybe, things will not be as bad as you feared.
People are asking how the UCP and the NDP are going to unite the people of this good province. Well, here's something to consider: that job belongs to you. Do you want this province to be united? Then you need to take the first step. When the Alberta Party candidate came to our door a couple weeks ago, I held him accountable for his party starting to get into name-calling and fear-mongering labels. I expressed to him my disappointment that members of his party were starting to stoop to the level of the others. It was frustrating when I thought they were a party that were able to rise above the rhetoric and nonsense. You know what, he took it to heart. We had a great conversation about it, and he won our votes. He talked about how he saw good in all the parties various platforms, and that we should be talking to each other and working together. That won us over. I knew he would not win, and that the Alberta Party would not form government, but I wanted to vote for real change. I wanted to vote for unity. When I listened to those who were supporting the NDP, I accepted their reasons as legitimate. I didn't agree with them, but they were not "stupid" for wanting something that I didn't. I made points that they could not counter, and they made points that I could not counter. When I listened to those who supported the UCP, I accepted that they felt that Kenney was the best person to get Albertans back to work. And what's wrong with allowing honest folk to make an honest living? Just because they voted UCP does not mean that they are racist, homophobic bigots. We need to stop associating political parties with the outliers that are attracted to them. The majority of conservatives are not white supremacists, and the majority of liberals and NDPs are not communists. We need to stop thinking that the extremists in every party (and every party has them) are steering their respective ship. We need to be vigilant, but we need to be level-headed ourselves. We need to listen to what people say in the context it was given, not focus on soundbites that can be twisted to soothe our outrage.
If we want our government to unify us as a province and as a people, then we need to demand the same of ourselves. We need to accept that people will vote differently than us. We need to embrace our differences and stop taking cheap shots at each other. We must extend the hand of compromise and compassion. When we lose, we must resist the urge to hate the victors. When we win, we must resist the urge to mock the concerns of others. That is the difference between us being the good, the bad, or the ugly.
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