So I’ve been getting some slack from friends and even some of my family about the Conservative candidate sign I have on my front lawn. Brian McGarry is my candidate in Carleton Heights, the neighborhood in which I live in, in Ottawa, Canada. I’ve taken a personal poll of how “sizzling” the Canadian election is, with some friends of mine, and everyone seems to be more interested in what’s going on south of the border. Not in their pants….as in…the United States of America. As a young professional, and the parent of twin children, one boy, and one girl, I’ve realized that voting holds some weight with me as I gear into my early thirties. I believe that we’re a generation that is more aware of the democratic process. We’re more educated and interested in knowing the issues (…and there’s more of them now), than for instance, our parents were. I took it upon myself to go door to door to as many baby boomers as I could find (luckily I live in a neighborhood where there is no shortage of them), and literally just rang the doorbell, and introduced myself as an independent citizen seeking answers about the differences in the perception of politics NOW, versus for instance, 1977, which was the year I was born. Some people greeted me with quizzical smiles, some people thought I wasn’t serious, and others simply thought I was the “hippie” Green Party of Canada candidate. I had a bit of fun with it too…introducing myself to two households as the Party Party of Canada candidate. When asked what my plan was, I let them know it was to “get this party started right”, and to “party like it was 1999″ as much as possible, and to deliver 1 copy of Van Wilder to each Canadian household.

Anyways…the point is, the issues that affected our baby boomer parents were a lot more clear cut. It was mostly about maintaining a quality of life, ensuring that their taxes were low, and that neighborhoods were safe. There was less to worry about. NOW…we have the fucking ice caps turning into new lakes, the emerging economies of India and China, globalization, poverty, the plight of Africa, AIDS, and an overall increased element of social awareness and causes that I can guarantee you my parents didn’t think twice about. It’s a different world nowadays.

I’ll tell you right now, I am more interested in what is going on in the U.S. It’s simply more entertaining. Canadian politics has never been about bravado. To the credit of our friends in the House of Commons, it’s less fanfare. It’s more of what politics should be about. By default, the U.S. is THE dramatically most powerful and influential country in the world. Their elections are simply more electrifying, because the leader of the free world is coming into office…and no matter what anyone says…really….it’s just always going to be that way. Americans have “charisma” as a major criteria when considering an elected official. Canadians don’t seem to be as concerned about that kind of thing. Actors become Presidents in the U.S. The coolest guy who was ever Prime Minister was an intellectual with a penchant for wearing roses on his lapel and doing pirouettes behind the Queen of England’s back. Trudeau was a cool cat…sure…. but Reagan shared the screen with Hollywood’s golden age. Fer crissakes, the Governor of California was a Terminator, and the former Governor of Minnesota helped him kick ass in “Predator” and “The Running Man”. That’s just awesome.

As a Canadian, I am dying for someone semi charismatic. Stephen Harper looks as if he’s been therapteucially conditioned not to go postal. It’s like he’s a former outpatient who had violent tendencies, who through years of mental resistance training and drugs, has become a cardboard shell of his former self. I remember him shaking his son’s hand on his kid’s first day at school… in a recent photo op after he became the big cheese. It’s like he could lose it at any time. Jack Layton is that overzealous high school kid desperate to fly the coop out of drama club and perhaps try out for the third string on the football team. He tries too hard. I’d love to vote for the Green Party, as I think the environment is an important issue (however, I am getting sick of saying that…it’s so bandwagonesque…), but I’m not certain making the environment a priority so front and center is a practical solution when we’re dealing with certain financial uncertainty, what many consider a broken health care system, and dual income families struggling with child care requirements and the daily grind while trying to make ends meet. The environment IS important, but isn’t there a nice blend, where we can take care of the here and now, and address tomorrow? Who’s catering to the middle class? At the end of the day…I think it’s Harper’s Tories more than anyone else. Simply based on the position on the issues, he’s got my vote. I’m a lot more comfortable with an economist running the show currently. I think more than ever before, we need to reign in spending, and be cautious through the next few years. We’ve got an expensive war going on in Afghanistan, and we have a potential depression in the United States, coupled with what will probably be a few years of top to bottom changes and reparations in Washington once the new President kicks in.

Let’s phase over into the U.S. There is no shortage of characters there. Barack Obama is about as charismatic and compelling a politician I’ve seen in years. A good combination of well spoken, educated, appealing to Joe and Jane Public, and genuine, he conveys to me…what a good politician should be about. I trust him, and I’m not even American. It’s not so much that I even trust HIM. It’s that I trust of his policies, both perosnal and political. He seems like a logical person with a sense of responsibility. That’s refreshing. There’s some ownership and recognition that there’s a vested interest in doing better. I like that. Sarah Palin is a terrifying concept as a potential President. Matt Damon said it best. McCain has a 1 in 3 chance of not surviving his first term. This woman would be President. The thought of her meeting with European dignitaries, taking into consideration that she’s never even been out of the United States up until very recently, is funny. She is small town to the max. Should there be a prerequisite that you should be well travelled in order to hold, or potentially hold, the highest office in the land? Well, I kind of think so. You’re representing a country. There should be some small element of awareness of what goes on outside of your borders, I think.

Charisma. That’s what we need. Politicians needs to show us that they’re passionate about what they believe. They need to do that more, and they need to do taking into consideration that there is always, no matter how good they may be, warranted distrust and assumptions about who they are and what they do. The most passionate guy in Canadian politics wants to break the country up and build a massive dome over all of Quebec with a huge fleur de lis. At least he’s passionate, and for that matter, he seems to be fairly consistent on his views.