“There are more than three million young eligible voters in this country and as far as any of the political parties are concerned, you might as well all be dead.”
– Rick Mercer, 2011
In your 20s, following the movements of government does not rank high on the proverbial to-do list.
There are too many other boxes to check: finish school, find a job, buy a house, get married, travel the world, pay back loans – the list goes on.
The problem is, whoever is elected as your representative in provincial parliament has the power to dictate the terms of all of those things. This includes raising auto insurance rates, making it more difficult to get a loan for a mortgage, increasing interest on student debt, and eliminating what they feel are “unnecessary” jobs.
This is the real-world translation of: “Reducing spending is a critical first step that helps create the job expansion required to wipe out the deficit.”
Voting for a political party is no different than the hundreds of other choices we unconsciously make every day. Coke or Pepsi, Apple or PC, Nike or Adidas, McDonald’s or Burger King, Conservative or Liberal.
It’s that simple. Corporations don’t sell consumers a product, they sell a lifestyle, an image of self-identity that you then want to align yourself with. If your values coincide with those displayed in the advertisement, you align yourself with that product.
Choosing a political party isn’t all that different.
Though political leaders are decidedly less flashy than the celebrities endorsing soft drinks, each stands for a lifestyle, an image and a set of values that will affect every aspect of your day-to-day life.
By not voting, you’re denying yourself the right to choose. You’re saying “yes” to four years of drinking Coke, when maybe you like Orange Crush.
That being said, deciding which political leader best represents your values takes time. And for most of us in our 20s, we’re still coming to terms with what those values are, who we are and what we want to be.
Voting is not a test, there is no pass or fail. On June 12 all that matters is that our government sees young people care about the decisions made on our behalf.
That black “X” says I don’t want to drink Coke, because I like Pepsi. I don’t want to pay more for tuition. I want to be able to get a job as a teacher. I want help to pay back my student loan.
We have already proven that young people have the power to turn a small company into a multi-billion dollar corporation just by making a simple choice.
By buying an iPod you voted Apple. You may think your vote doesn’t make a difference, but you determine the success or failure of individuals and companies every day.
Alan Moore once wrote, “Noise is relative to the silence preceding it. The more absolute the hush, the more shocking the thunderclap.”
Our silence gives us the element of surprise … on June 12 stand up and scream.
