Today’s the day – all of our neighbours to the south have the right and duty to vote for a new leader of “the most powerful nation on earth.”
Somehow I think that when it comes down to a “leader of the most powerful nation on earth” being chosen – a choice that affects so many more people than just those that live in his/her nation, the rest of us should maybe have a bit of a say in the matter.
But if any of my fellow Canadians (or anyone else on Earth besides Americans) could actually cast your vote – what would it be? According to Global Vote 2004 the winner is decisively John Kerry. Strangely enough though, as much as we collectively seem to prefer him to GWB, some of his economic policies could be pretty damaging to Canada as a nation.
John Kerry believes in economic protectionism. This means issues such as the softwood lumber crisis, the border closures to Canadian beef, the downturn in the once lucrative Canadian film industry, etc. are likely to get worse, rather than better with Kerry in power.
Kerry is also willing to open opportunities for Americans to travel to Canada to purchase prescription drugs. As nice an idea as it is to help out the “poor senior citizens” in the USA, we do have our own citizens to worry about. When you stop and really consider it, does anyone think that it’s a better idea for them to show up and place a burden on our system, instead of fixing their own? And do we really think the drug companies aren’t going to take advantage of the situation and not start price gouging? With the US$ remaining above the CAN$, drug companies could easily make a tidy profit by raising prices enough so that the “new” US consumers can make up the difference for any Canadians who could no longer afford the drugs they need.
As a global citizen, of course I’d be leaning toward voting for “anything that’s not the current administration.” The sheer volume of misinformation, mis-action, and constant blundering by GWB & crew deserves nothing less than impeachment as far as I’m concerned. However, is Kerry actually a better choice? or just a different one? As far as Canada is concerned, I’m not too sure.
Regardless, I’m hoping all of our friends below the 49th will get out and make their choice known. I’ll be at home watching Jon Stewart’s coverage, and wondering what kind of difference it’ll make in my world once it’s all said and done.
Isn’t it always a question of the lesser of two evils (including here in Canada?)
I think it’s strange that everyone thinks Kerry will automatically be “better” than GWB. Of course he scares me, and of course he must go. But whether or not Kerry will be better, or just as bad in different ways remains to be seen.
I’m not overly fond of Kerry either, but as I heard it said recently… they could elect a potato and it would be better than the Bush administration.
While Kerry’s plans might not be financially good for Canada, they’re far better than Bush’s plan to seemingly nuke & pave the world. That man scares me in ways that Kerry never will.
I’m with Devon. 🙂
Feithy
I’ve been thinking the same thing myself, and I’ve decided on a solution:
Get really drunk and stay that way for the next four years.