So notwithstanding Stephen Harper's effort to put everyone to sleep and, for those still awake, appeal to voters' supposed desire for direct payoffs in return for their vote (so-called 'retail politics') the general focus of this election campaign has been on the 'big picture'. The financial crisis spiralling outward from the US is obviously the Big Daddy of all the media stories right now, but let's not forget that Liberal Leader Stephane Dion actually tried to run a modern election campaign on a Big Idea that did not -- for a change -- emanate from an advertising agency. His 'Green Shift' may have been too much for the capitalist class to stomach, or too little/too late for us radicals to get very excited about, but the whole idea that we might actually decide the direction of our society with a view to the long-term sustainability for our children was pretty unusual, to say the least. And it may have lost Mr Dion the election. Just goes to show, doesn't it? The zero-sum politics of our 'first past the post' system is multipled by the 'only one story can matter at any givenmoment' mentality of the news media to eclipse even the boldest ideas. Better luck next time (f there IS a next time).
0 comments:
Post a Comment