A democratic system is based on the idea that the citizens of a country
govern themselves, by choosing representatives from the population –
people with similar ideas and ideals, but also with the abilities, skills and
attitude to accept the weight of the massive responsibility of managing
a whole county as if it is a family business.
Each member of the family has one vote, therefore everyone has an
equal say in this system, rich or poor, smart or not so smart, etc.
In order to exercise your power to choose a government, you must vote,
otherwise you relinquish your say and cannot afterwards criticize the
choices that were made by those who did vote.
How do we know whom to choose?
A potential representative makes his ideas and ideals known, then is
nominated as a candidate by people who know him, so that it can be
determined through voting which person is the choice of the majority
of the population to represent them and should serve in the government.
In a system of party politics, like in Canada, these ideas and ideals are
determined by each party, not by the individual candidates.
A voter therefore votes for a party that seems to be the closest to his own
ideas and ideals - not necessarily for the candidate of his choice.
The party that gets the most votes is then the government until the next
election (in Canada that might be every other year, it seems!!)
The party with the second most votes serves as the opposition, so that the
different opinion can keep the majority opinion in check.
This should, in theory, prevent dictatorship by a group and ensure fairness
to everyone.
Can we afford not to vote?
Reckless and ill-considered voting puts people in power who make decisions
and laws that are not easy to rectify and sometimes cause irreparable damage.
Examples are futile laws that attempt to change natural law, like for arguments
sake,
For example, a law that attempts to change nature by stating that snow-
and thunderstorms are not permitted in the region of an airport, or that says
that a farmer may use two bulls to produce a calf and may have a dairy farm
with only bulls, as equality means that they are all the same, so we just change
the definition of a breeding pair and a cow.
Some wild election promises will definitely mean higher taxes and job losses -
anyone who has a basic understanding of economics will realize this.
This means that we all carry the responsibility to listen carefully to what each
political party stands for, before we vote and that we should all vote, as this is
our country and our money and our future that we vote for ……… or neglect.
This I have said before – politicians should study history and economics. Then
we shall not have governments that keep on making the same mistakes every
few years. But, as we know that not all politicians are not thus educated, we
should vote for the party that looks after our interests the best.
Andrew van Vuuren
Innisfail
