Don’t know how many of you will indulge me in this but here goes.
If you feel so inclined post a comment giving one or two reasons why you vote for the party you do. In other words what values, beliefs, policies what have you that you hold near and dear do they represent.
And if you are feeling brave list one or two things where you part company or you feel they could improve.
Anyone?
I think it started as a contrarian thing.
In most of Alberta, there were Tories and there were not Tories.
And not Tories got along swimmingly. There was little idealogical finger pointing crap among non-Tories in that part of Alberta.
In my last election in Alberta, the Liberal candidate was a friend of my parents.
As I grew older and more certainly progressive, I wanted a party that was more or less representative of my views.
I didn’t find one.
I don’t think the NDP is a particularly progessive party. Giving in to reactionary elements in the NDP on the long gun registry sealed the deal. They don’t merit my vote until the party fixes that.
I found that the Liberal Party, as a party, was more open at the grassroots level to diverse viewpoints than were the New Democrats in this community.
I don’t have to apologize for being myself.
I like that.
Thanks for your opinions.
I’ve been a Dipper since I was in my teens. My mom, a USian transplanted to Alberta, was progressive with hippy cultural ties and so was naturally supporting the New Democrats. I take most of my values from my mom – although I feel I’m a little less prone to compromise than she is – and so when I saw those values expressed and many great if imperfect initiates being accomplished by NDP governments in BC and Saskatchewan, it followed that I’d support the New Democrats in Alberta.
(What motivated me to get involved, however, was Pam Barrett on the news pushing for restitution for Leilani Muir while former Liberal Ralph Klein made fun of the issue and Liberal leader Grant Mitchell sat dumbly by. Ms. Barret burned out badly in the end, but she was a tremendous fighter.)
Tangentally responding to what CfSR says, my dad votes Tory when he votes, so for me, that makes it hard for me to swallow this whole “Conservatives are the devil” routine the Liberals do. He’s not perfect, but my dad’s not cruel. And yet the Conservatives resonate with him and with a lot of people like him. I think in many cases they’re delusional, but it’s worthwhile to understand this delusion rather than demonize it or mock it.
Dipper.
In the last federal election I went to an all-candidates’ meeting and there was only one candidate whose ideas I completely agreed with. She spoke for getting out of the Security and Prosperity Pact and NAFTA and Afghanistan, passing legislation to protect resources not only for our future but for their own sake, shifting from the housing boom economy to green collar jobs with on-the-job daycare, entrenching the UN Human Rights Charter into Canadian law, legalizing marijuana, just about anything progressive you could ask for.
She was Marxist-Leninist Party.
I couldn’t vote for her because my primary concern was keeping the so-con candidate from getting elected.
Stupid first-past-the-post voting system.
Kuri makes an important point about the humanity of Conservative voters and the capacity of the Conservative party to reach out to their delusions.
I don’t think most Tory voters go to the polls thinking, “How am I going to hurt vulnerable people today?”
They mean well. Just like the rest of us.
But we do need to differentiate between voters and party volunteers and members and the priorities of the party leadership in goverment and opposition.
That’s where we may ge closer to Kuri’s “devil”.