January 23, 2006

Vote 2006

I voted today. I didn't think I would vote but I did, not sure why. I know I said that I wouldn't talk about politics but this'll be the last I swear. I'm going to go over why I voted for what I did and why.

I voted to not vote.

Why did I choose to vote to not vote? Because it won't make a difference. When I switch to a local Canadian channel tonight after 24, I'm going to see the polls and see that the guy I wanted to vote for lost by several hundred thousand votes. OR, I'll see he won by several hundred thousand votes. The bottom line is, my vote makes no difference.

And the thing is, several hundred thousand people will look at the TV and say the exact same thing, meaning that we all could have made a difference. But who's wants to be that one sucker who tries to go out and make a difference but ends up not? Not me.

You all know by now that I would have voted for Blue. Because I couldn't care less about all the other promises and platforms these guys have except for one thing. ONE THING ONLY, something that affects me personally and that is gay marriage. As a Christian, I am against gay marriage. That's the only thing that will affect me out of all the other baloney promises that each guy makes. At the end of the day, I'm willing to sacrifice everything else EXCEPT for my moral beliefs. If I have to pay more taxes, more on travelling to and from work, if I have to start shelling out for medicine, all that is a moot point if God's commands are not followed.

Okay, so back to my point about not making a difference, and seeing no value in voting. What's the point of voting, then, if there's nothing in it for the voter? Here is how I believe we can get the people to vote, myself included.

I can guarantee, based on my voting plan, that nearly 100% of the people with the ability to vote, will do so under my plan.

The Plan: How To Motivate People To Vote

Now I just sort of thought of another idea, which involves execution by guillotine --- but I think that's a little too extreme.

My idea is simple. Turn the vote into a lottery. A free lottery. So you vote (by color of course), who you want to win and you hand in your lottery ticket. And here's the kicker, the reason people will vote -- because they know they will make a difference.

Because what happens next, is that they take all these ballots, all of the ballots in CANADA. Put them in this gigantic tub, spin it around, and pull out one at a time, til they have 100. Count those ballots up, and whoever has the most votes is the new Prime Minister.

Then for those 100 ballots/people -- they each get a $500,000 cash prize.

$50,000,000 is not a lot of money when you consider that every capable Canadian came out to voice their opinion.

So to summarize:

You vote in order to give your guy/gal the best chance of winning. The more votes that Blue gets, the higher the odds are for him to win. Yes, in this scenario, the Green guy could win if by some luck of the draw, 50 of those 100 raffle tickets has his name on it. But it's highly unlikely. So not only are the people getting this huge opportunity to be THE ONE to make a difference, there's also a chance to win money. And who wouldn't play a free lottery?

$500,000 -- that's worth voting for.

:P

3 comments:

Q said...

yes, we want so-cons on the Hill. but what will Blue do about poverty? and social justice? (my friend Ty was the Orange candidate for a riding out west) or the Kyoto accord? I'm determined to keep bugging my MP about the Millenium Development Goals, even if he's Red.
-q-

Anonymous said...

so you went to the polls and handed in a invalid/empty ballot or you just didn't go?

ebrian said...

I didn't go. Jim Peterson (red) has been the incumbent in my riding (Willowdale) for the last 17 billion years, so I didn't think my vote would make any difference -- and I was right.

Peterson had twice as many votes as the next guy. (30713 out of 55565)

Some interesting notes about Willowdale: Immmigrant population is more than 56%, 27% are Chinese. Average family income is $81,664, unemployement rate is 6.8%.

Over the last 8 elections (spanning 27 years), Willowdale has been Liberal for 22 of those years.