In the same way you can tell that Conservatives don't think they can win in my riding, it seems clear to me that political parties in general don't expect youth voters to turn out.
On one hand, we get accused of being apathetic (in fact I accuse myself). But on the other hand, I hope that politicians will find that youth voters are going to vote this year. I really have a good feeling about it. I know that's no Nanos poll accurate within 1.9 percentage points and I'm not advocating myself as a political forecaster. And I may be biased by being slightly older this time around. But it seems as though the people around me who are in my age group are more politically interested than in the last few elections.
I've been talking politics a LOT with a lot of different people. I've been seeing other people around me - mainly in the form of distant Facebook acquaintances - do the same. Yesterday I had an intense political conversation while drinking beer in a park on the way to a bar. I had another completely different conversation about politics IN the bar, with some guy I didn't really know! Both conversations were heated and intense and totally awesome. On top of that, the girl I was with took an Olivia Chow sign from a lawn (wow I'm really incriminating myself in this post aren't I?) and we got tons of hollers! The bouncer seemed to be concerned about whether he should let us reprobates into the bar given the legal implications of sign poaching. But eventually he said "As long as you're not voting Conservative" and waved us on.
Even media outlets have started taking notice.
It gives me hope.
2011 has been a crazy year so far. People all over the world are creating political change. In a way, Canadians are deeply entrenched in a dysfunctional political system as well. Don't get me wrong, I seriously respect that I am extremely fortunate to live in a democracy - it's the best we've got. But we could still be doing a lot better.
Two years ago we saw our neighbours to the south elect Obama. I continue to be an insane Obama fangirl, although the U.S. are definitely still struggling in a rough patch. And okay, we don't have an Obama figure of our own but what we do have is choice! We don't just have to pick the lesser of two evils - it's more likely that there is a party with at least some policies we like (even if we're seeing a lot more politics than policy in this election).
Further, youth tend to be less set in their ways – and therefore more open-minded to the choices that a multiple party system provides. At this point in the campaign, I’m still open to voting Liberal, Green, or NDP. Any of those parties could woo me. I would like to talk more about the campaign promises that are geared towards us and whether they hold weight or not (it would be a good educational opportunity for me), but to me it's clear that we are an afterthought. And hey, maybe this election we'll have an abysmal 30% turnout again, and politicians and politicos will continue to ignore young voters.
This brings me back to my original point, and yes I know it took a while to get here. I'm sure you could list a variety of reasons why parties don't appeal to young voters as much as say, all of this insane hoopla ha about immigrant votes and middle-class votes. I mean, Harper's just being realistic, for one. But they're wrong to ignore us because I'm undecided in this election, and I don't think I'm alone.
The way I see it is that we can create change by proving that we are an engaged and intelligent electorate. Maybe not this election round, because the platforms have been released. But if we get out there and vote this year, politicians will be more likely to take our views more seriously the next time around!
Then again, if we turn out and vote, who knows what our influence could be! Who knows, maybe we could still turn the tide in this election.
People our age are literally dying worldwide to gain the rights we take for granted. So people. Specifically young people. I'm serious here. Get out there, get informed, and vote!
We can make our voices be heard. We can, and we should, VOTE!
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