Dear editor,A current favourite question among various levels of politicians is, “Why is voter turnout so low, particularly among young people?”I think the reason for low voter turnout is obvious.It’s because our “democratic” system has evolved to a point where corporations have a much larger vote than people. People (and particularly young people) realize that, compared with corporate influence on government, their vote means very little.Ordinary people are allowed to vote once every four years or so, but corporations don’t bother with the four years/one vote idea.They meet with high levels of government every day, and policies are put in place as a result of these meetings. Once policies are in place they’re rarely changed, even if the government is defeated in the next election.So, in today’s “democracy,” we’re being governed to a very large extent by people we’ve never met, voted for, or even seen. Young people (and many other thinking people in our society) don’t see any point in wasting their time on something that doesn’t work.  Why vote, when almost any corporation has a much bigger influence on government than your vote does?Corporations definitely have their place, and they certainly deserve a voice, but people need a voice, too, or the system will never work. Democracy was created to give ordinary people a voice through their vote, but when people realize their vote has been made essentially meaningless, they simply stop voting.If we want people to vote, we need a “democracy” where our vote actually works.We could start by making a system where the wishes of corporations (often foreign-owned) don’t carry more weight than the wishes of the voting public. Karl Stevenson,Royston

Comox Valley Record