It’s almost election time. The fabulous time that comes around every couple years, you know, either municipally, provincially or federally, when not enough people vote but everyone is mad about the results. It’s the time when you question if every investment from the government is just to garner good faith and votes. It’s the time when you think you can have your cake and eat it, too.
Soon there will be signs everywhere, that look like deer standing on the side of the road at night and scare some people half to death over and over again. There will be ads all over the newspaper, radio and TV. Some that look like ads, “Vote for X because they are better than Y” and some that don’t “A message from the government of B.C.”
There will be debates where questions aren’t even answered but rather fingers are pointed and accusations tossed around. There will be lots of photo opportunities of candidates spending time with the people and gathering their input and listening to their concerns.
There will be endless promises and good intentions.
In my mind the campaign is like flipping through the pictures at a bakery before you order a cake. Which one looks the nicest? Which one appeals to what you need at this point in your life?
But after you choose you find out the baker doesn’t have a recipe, they didn’t invest in butter, they don’t know how to separate eggs and they don’t have the tools to properly sift the flour. So in the end, they can’t make the cake they promised you.
This is what bothers me about campaigns.
I hear over and over again what politicians want to do. They promise pie and cupcakes and different doughnuts every day, but never how they are going to do it. And in my mind, the how is just as important as the end result because a doughnut made with play dough might look just as pretty as a doughnut made with edible ingredients, but it isn’t going to taste as good.
Yes, I know, they don’t know exactly how they are going to make it happen, because there is a whole parliamentary or legislative process, but there are previous recipes and favourite ingredients that each party is more likely to use, and I think that is what they should be talking about.
I think the problem is, we are looking too far ahead. When we choose our politicians we are choosing them based on the promises they make. I think we should be choosing them based on the recipes and ingredients they use.
