Saturday, March 26, 2011

The Circus

Now that the drama is over, and we are doomed to go to the polls like lemmings running off a cliff, we should look at the bright side of things. There is indeed a bright side, at least for a blogger like me. Think of it. For the next six weeks, our leaders will refrain from doing anything useful while they knock their opponents around like punching bags, and act like spoiled siblings at the dinner table. An election campaign is not unlike a three ring circus, with the contestants as the clowns. We've all been awarded front seat tickets, and there should be plenty of blogger fodder for all.

[Side note: Ever wonder why combatants in a political debate often exhibit behaviour that would not be tolerated in a kindergarten class? When I'm King of the World, I'll make a rule that the candidate who successfully keeps his or her mouth shut the longest is the automatic and undisputed winner.]

I don't think of myself as a politically minded person, but a quick search of my blog shows that I have a lot to say about politicians. Here is an October entry in which I compare politics to a game, and one from July in which I compare it to alcoholism. While my point of view isn't exactly political science, I maintain that it contains at least a measure of truth.

One down side of the election is that it jeopardizes the volunteer firefighter tax credit. Whether the government really wanted to help volunteer firefighters, or whether they just wanted to con us into voting for them, one thing is certain: they at least paid us some attention. Congratulations to the CAFC for successfully shining the spotlight on volunteer firefighters. We can at least hope that the new government will see fit to keep the tax credit in the budget.

Laura King on the Firefighting in Canada blog makes a good point that this is perhaps the first time the federal government has given anything to volunteer fire services. I still have to wonder why it took so long, especially since the idea has had all-party support for some time. It isn't like it's a huge amount of money in federal budget terms. It could be that they were afraid of becoming the proverbial frog that allows itself to be boiled. You know the story that if you turn up the heat slowly enough, the frog won't know it's being cooked. I fear that our frog may jump out of the pot after the election, but time will tell.

Incidentally, Laura also implies that I'm a political cynic. Hmm. I wonder where that idea came from.

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