The History Channel was advertising a television show recently entitled the The Kennedys. The commercial for it had Joseph Kennedy telling his sons: "It is not what you are that matters. It is what people think you are. And with the right amount of money you can make them think anything you want."
A hugely cynical view of the body politic. Probably not something that the senior Kennedy ever actually said.
However it is a sentiment that resonates with many people that I have talked to about this election. There is a perception that our politicians are not so much interested in finding out our views or thoughts as they are in telling us what they should be.
Take the latest spate of attack ads. For example, you have the Conservatives telling us repeatedly that a vote for the Liberals is a "vote for Michael Ignatieff".
No. It is a vote for your local candidate. But if enough people are convinced that the local candidate that they want to support is a Liberal, then Michael Ignatieff - the leader of the Liberals - will be the next Prime Minister. The same goes for Stephen Harper. Or Jack Layton. This is the nature of our political system. We do not vote for the Prime Minister. We vote for the best local candidate.
However, the Conservatives are spending huge sums of money on these advertisements because they want to keep telling you this one message, over and over, so that it becomes the only message that you hear and you begin to believe that they are right.
Their basic equation is: Liberals = Ignatieff = Opportunist = Not in Canada's best interest. They want you to believe that.
Indeed, much of the advertising by all of the parties has turned into "leader only" commercials. It is "americanizing" our election process by trying to make this about a single person instead of a party. Still it is the party that is elected and as we have seen in the past few months in our own province, leaders can be replaced.
I don't know how much the Conservatives are spending but they seem to be running advertisements about twice as often as the other two parties. They are hoping that with the right amount of money, they can make people think what they want.
This endless series of attack ads are a further example of the contempt that the Conservatives feel for the voters. They don't want to sell us on the benefits of voting Conservative (are there any?) but on the disadvantages of the other parties. It is negative campaigning. It is fear mongering.
It is truly unfortunate because it assumes that Canadians, given logical, well laid out platforms, can not make an intelligent decision. It's not giving the average voter a lot of credit.
However, focussing on the national leader is probably in the Conservatives best interest if our local candidates are anything to judge by. Talk about holding the voters in contempt.
Dick Harris's website contains the following:
Cariboo-Prince George Conservative candidate Dick Harris, the incumbent, is blunt in his assessment of Ignatieff's stand on the tanker moratorium. "One would have to be both blind and stupid not to see the economic benefits to getting Canada's oil into that huge Asian market," said Harris.
Blind and stupid? Really? Not giving all of the voters in this region who understand perfectly the economic arguments for the Enbridge pipeline and its ability to siphon jobs, money, and economic growth out of our country a lot of credit, are you Mr. Harris?
It is just further evidence of how little the Conservatives value the opinion of voters. It seems that all of their advertising is designed around a message that says that we need to think like them, not they like us. That they are entitled to tell us what to think.
Of course, to Mr. Harris' credit, he has taken a stand on the Enbridge Pipeline even if it is one that is not supported by the majority of voters in his riding. But Mr. Zimmer, the Conservative candidate in the Peace River riding, has no answer to the question.
Instead, he simply prevaricated saying that he doesn't want to "prejudge" the issue until the environmental reports are in. Talk about sitting on the fence.
In any case, there are a whole range of issues over which the Conservatives would like to tell us what to think. I would suggest that talking with the other candidates, such as Lois Boone, one might find that they are much more interested in listening.
And that should really be the advice that everyone aspiring to office in this election hears - now is the time to hear what voters think because that is what really matters.
