Well, on my Facebook page, it has become apparent that I voted Green.  There is a long story behind it that will come out gradually in the not-too-distant future.  Politically for me, this was quite like the song, “I kissed a girl…and I liked it.”  If you know the song, it’s now stuck in your head and you will get no apology from me!  This went against my regular pattern of behaviour.  Like the girl in the song, I did enjoy it, but I’m not planning on staying there.  It also felt strangely exhilarating and kinda dirty.  It was as if I’d experienced some guilty pleasure that was wrong and taboo.  OK, maybe your voting experience is not quite like mine, and just maybe, I need to enter some kind of rehab facility.  I seem to certainly get far too much excitement from marking my ballot.

In all honesty, though, today, I wrote an article about demanding more respectful behaviour from our politicians.  (It was going to be my blog entry, but it was far too long for one sitting).  I felt like the Greens demonstrated that respect throughout the campaign.  I have heard that one of their campaign edicts was that if some of their volunteers were putting up or fixing a sign and they saw another party’s sign damaged or down, they were to put that up as well.  That’s respect and that’s class.

Policy-wise I disagree with a Carbon Tax, although I believe there need to be discussions on putting a price on carbon and how that gets implemented.  The Green Party also presented some interesting discussion on cutting payroll taxes (certainly not a left-wing policy there!!!).  I would’ve certainly had no problem with a few of them in parliament, adding to a constructive debate.

I asked a question at our local debate about respect and our incumbent (who was re-elected in a landslide) only made excuses for why our representatives act the way they do.  To be honest, I still almost voted for him, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it.  I am a Conservative, though, through and through.  I still like to research the issues and see where the parties stand, and normally vote on that.  This time, I was absolutely sure that our incumbent Conservative would win.  I was hoping to send a message with my vote and that the result would be closer.  Unfortunately, the message was a whisper.  I’m working on ways to make it louder.  This blog entry is a start.  The article I’ve written will follow up on that.  I believe there are many like me, who feel that we need to demand better of our politicians.

Just some food for thought…mmm…food!