- What's With The Apathy?
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- The decline of democracy in North America was starkly
illustrated in the recent Canadian elections, laments Eric Walberg...
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- The Canadian people woke up 15 October to a new government
that looked remarkably like the old government. "Basically, we have
just gone through a $300 million-plus election that we could ill afford
and the Conservatives are still stuck with their irksome minority government
situation that led them to call the election in the first place,"
said Terrence Downey, president of St Mary's University College in Calgary,
Alberta. "Nothing much has changed except for increased levels of
voter apathy and cynicism."
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- This election saw the lowest national voter turnout in
Canadian history at 59 per cent, even as a global financial crisis threatened
to plunge the nation's economy into recession. This broke the previous
record low of 61 per cent in 2004. Canadian voter turnout peaked at close
to 80 per cent in the general election of 1958. The last four Canadian
federal elections have all been under 65 per cent, the first time since
1896.
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- Prime Minister Steven Harper observed that "it's
been low and getting lower for some time now." What he didn't say
is exactly what the Conservatives want, since this works to the advantage
of the wealthy and not-so-wealthy supporters of the status quo. It was
Harper who pushed through new stringent proof-of-identity requirements,
emulating United States President George W Bush, contributing to the low
turnout.
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- But Americans can only envy Canada. The US hasn't had
a voter turnout as high as 59 per cent since 1968, when 60.8 per cent voted.
The last three national election turnouts were 56.7 (2004), 51.3 (2000),
and 49.1 (1996) per cent. Part of the problem is the vindictive voter registration
system that discards many of the poor and in most states, anyone who has
ever been in jail, no matter what the offence. Recall that the US prisoner
population, at two million, is the highest in the world and the highest
per capita in the world.
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- But what is the underlying explanation for this mysterious
aversion that Canadians and Americans have shown to their political systems
in the recent past? Canadian voter fatigue from a succession of minority
governments just doesn't wash. Everyone has strong political preferences,
and given worthy candidates addressing issues that are important, people
will take the few minutes required to vote. Canadians pay a considerable
amount to fund each election and spend hours listening to political ads,
commentary, debates and "news".
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- Could it be that no politicians are addressing the burning
issues? That voters realise there is no difference between the two ruling
parties? The US political system was aptly described by Carroll Quigley,
Bill Clinton's politics professor, as follows: "The two parties should
be almost identical, so that the American people can 'throw the rascals
out' at any election without leading to any profound or extensive shifts
in policy." This is easily applied to the Canadian situation.
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- And who controls the policy? Could it be the Zionist
establishment in North America, politely called the Israeli lobby if the
critic dares mention it at all? Canada has pumped thousands of troops into
Afghanistan since the US invaded it seven years ago and has suffered the
third highest casualties after the US and Britain, with only resentment
and despair on the part of Afghans as thanks. More than 60 per cent of
Canadians want out immediately. The natural party to lead the campaign
against this betrayal of Canada's image as peacekeeper was the Liberal
Party, led by the French Canadian Stephane Dion - French Canadians are
traditionally pacifist.
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- But the Liberals have been paralysed, unable to voice
the popular will, and were routed last year by the small socialist New
Democratic Party (NDP) in a Quebec by-election that NDP leader Jack Layton
called "a referendum on Afghanistan". Could it be that the continued
failure of the Liberals to show some backbone and promise an immediate
withdrawal of troops left voters too depressed and resigned to bother turning
out this time? Could it be the aggressive lobbying of the Canadian Jewish
Congress (CJC) and the virtual silence of the Zionist-controlled media
that is the problem?
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- Instead, the Liberals campaigned on the environment,
and deservedly suffered their worst electoral showing in a quarter century.
Knives are now drawn by pretenders to the mild-mannered, bookish Dion,
including Michael Ignatieff, a sometime Canadian but better known as a
neo-con British writer who even supported the invasion of Iraq, and Bob
Rae, ex-socialist, whose wife just happens to be vice-president of the
CJC. Yikes. What if they hold another election and no one bothers to show
up at all?
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- The stranglehold on foreign policy which the Zionists
have is clearer than ever this time round in the US. Early worries by American
Jews that Obama wasn't sufficiently pro-Israel prompted Obama to travel
to Israel to vow his unwavering support and to choose as his running mate
Senator Joe Biden, an outspoken Zionist ("You don't have to be Jewish
to be a Zionist"). At the vice presidential debate, the sparring to
outdo each other reached ridiculous heights with Sarah Palin's comment:
"I'm so encouraged to know that we both love Israel, and I think that
is a good thing to get to agree on."
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- While most Americans are so inundated with pro-Israeli
and anti-Arab propaganda they don't openly question the extreme bias in
their foreign policy, they know something is seriously wrong with the state
of the union - 91 per cent, last count. However, they are again being served
up virtually identical foreign policies by the two candidates. Could despair
be one of the reasons so many Americans don't bother to vote?
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- The other poison infecting the US electoral system is
the spectre of rigged elections. Fortunately for Canadians, the Conservatives
don't have a monopoly on voting machines, like the Republicans. Voter fraud
in the US, including dubious voting machine tallies and illegal disqualification
of thousands of poor and black voters has been well documented in the past
three presidential elections. Among early voters this time, there have
already been dozens of complaints that the touch-screen voting machines
moved voters' ticks from Obama to McCain. In Alabama, scores of voters
have been labelled convicted felons on the basis of incorrect lists. Michigan
must restore thousands of names it illegally removed from voter rolls over
residency questions, a judge ruled this week. Officials in Wisconsin admit
that their database is wrong one out of five times when it flags voters,
mistakenly rejecting tens of thousands.
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- Obama's new voter registration campaign ACORN has put
more than 1.3 million new voters on lists. But the Republicans have accused
it of fraud and succeeded in launching an FBI probe into ACORN, called
by Obama's campaign an "unholy alliance" with the Republicans.
Obama called for a special prosecutor to investigate any claims of registration
fraud. In Ohio, the US Supreme Court overturned a lower court order that
required extra information on these eager new - Democratic - voters, which
could invalidate up to 200,000 voters. The Republicans immediately launched
an appeal. Given the odds, unless Obama leads by at least 10 per cent next
month, he will likely "lose".
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- No matter who inhabits the White House next year, both
the US and Canadian electoral systems will continue to fester as long as
foreign policy remains in the Zionist vice. At least the Obama factor has
empowered blacks and liberals and has brought to life an otherwise moribund
campaign. Ralph Nader, the only honest candidate, will finish a distant
third, but has at least been able to act as America's conscience. Canada's
NDP gained a healthy eight seats this time, bringing their total to 37
and they will play a key role in keeping the minority Conservative government
from undoing what's left of Canada's welfare state. Such faint but important
voices are all that keeps faith in democracy alive these days across the
Atlantic. Perhaps eventually the forces they represent will be able to
pick up the pieces of the shattered political system.
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- ***
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- Eric Walberg writes for Al-Ahram Weekly. You can reach
him at www.geocities.com/walberg2002/
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- This will appear in the next issue of Al-Ahram Weekly
- http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/index.htm
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