Do You Really Want To Find Out!?
“Do you really want to find out” is the line that ends the last liberal ad i saw before election day!
a series of ads outlines everything stephen harper has done that might be interpreted as terrifying. and the ads themselves, they are terrifying. there is a voice over and it is always very frantic (as one apt observer noted to my delight). he always speaks very quickly and firmly, and almost loudly.
but i have decided that being frantic is definitely not the way to win over a conservative. conservatives like to be calm and reasonable. they like plans - clear plans (beautiful beautiful plans).
on thanksgiving monday i asked my dad why he was voting conservative and he said “because he lowered the gst and is letting me split my income with my wife.” and that was all my dad had to say and he was sort of laughing the whole time because he knew it would make me mad. then we got to my home in bramps and my next door neighbors, the raspberrys incidentally, had a conservative sign on their lawn (i almost thought it was on my parents’ lawn…i can’t believe the raspberrys did that…).
so i really started thinking about why people vote conservative. because my dad is a really good person and he’s not greedy and he doesn’t like war that much. i also always thought warren raspberry was a good person.
the other night after the election i stayed up late because i wanted to hear harper address the nation. i like a victor’s speech. the best comes out in people when they are victorious, even when their politics are bad (don’t align with mine?). the thing is, i really liked his speech and i really liked harper while he was giving the speech. i even think, i think his mouth may have quivered when he stated that canada was the best country in the world. and he got a bit passionate at the end there when he said we were independent, strong and compassionate (or something - three very good adjectives). furthermore, i liked the way he ushered his children onto the stage. i think stephen harper might be a really good father. no one can get over that handshake but my friends and i have come at it from every angle and maybe they have this father-son-handshake ritual or maybe ben didn’t want to hug his dad in front of the cameras. maybe they discussed it beforehand or better yet, harper just knew and didnt make a big deal out of it. i think he looks pretty comfortable with his kids and vice versa. and also, elizabeth may said he was a good father.
and i liked him during the debates. jack layton was crazy and mean and the sweater joke was only funny the first time. dion was lovely and emotional and oh, i really like him and wish him some sort of peripheral political participation. steven harper was totally cool the whole time and i like the way he laughed at layton’s jabs.
and i think that if you’re an artist you have to stand up for yourself, but cutting the arts, while very unfortunate, is not insane. it’s not even, like, mean.
it’s just kind of boring.
and responsible.
and i’ve seen harper during question period and i think he’s witty.
there is nothing utterly hateful about stephen harper. canada is a moderate country. our conservatives are better - more articulate, educated and reasonable - than their conservatives.
and our liberals are less exciting than their liberals (except for Trudeau).
so while i sincerely regret the results, i kind of wish i could encourage harper somehow because maybe he could be a great leader.
i might lash out against artists too if i had the economy to worry about and they wouldn’t get off my ass anyways.
and if i were my dad (haha) and was about to settle into retirement, had a kid with a loan, a sore back and a new grandson
i might vote for stephen harper too.
