Dear Editor:
I was truly excited to see young 11-year-old Cole Greenlees show up at a public meeting regarding the discussion on the potential location of the Eastview community garden. In some countries children as young as Cole carry AK47 rifles; Cole was carrying a placard with his concerns listed on it.
At the meeting of 40 adults, some of who sounded a little cranky (myself included) in expressing their opinions, he patiently waited his turn with his hand in the air. When the chair finally recognized him, he spoke eloquently about his concerns about the project. At the conclusion I thanked him for his participation in the debate, as well as thanked his mother, Daphane, for bringing him. It is interesting in our country where the centre always seems to prevail; there is this ebb and flow between left-leaning political ideas and those leaning to the right. There are also methods chosen by those groups in getting their message out.
Public meetings and free open debate are two of them, articles in the paper or on TV and or other media like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube are others now being employed. Then there is the rumour mill, innuendo, half-truth and sometimes outright lies as one group or the other tries to get elected and or get their point across. It’s unfortunate our politics has been deteriorating, and sometimes these groups or individuals use words like bullets — some of those words can be just as effective as bullets in attempting to destroy their opponents. Just look at recent elections in Rimbey and the still smoldering remains of long past elections.
A superficial view of these philosophies or governing styles reveals.
Left leaning political views:
• Tends more toward the socialist, mentality, more government and more services.
• NDP and Liberals are typically branded with the left leaning labels
Right leaning political views:
• Tends more toward the free market, less government, and pay your own way thinking
• Conservatives, free market and religious driven ideals dominate the right.
Centralist views:
• Tries to find a working balance of these views that is supported by the majority, hence a democracy.
We need our children to get involved. Please get your children involved in open thoughtful debate, giving them all of the options, not just your slanted view of the left and or the right. Let them know they are the future hope of our democracy. The centre with some government and common sense will ultimately prevail. We need the young adult singles, and those young with families to get involved.
I’ve been discouraged recently to not only feel my own hurt but to witness the hurt suffered by past and or current political figures in our community. I have been going out to businesspeople and those younger people with families, to find new potential candidates for the upcoming election. The majority are declining to participate for two main reasons: fear of loss of income and or harm to their business and or family; and or they feel they just don’t have the time, they are too busy.
If we are going to survive as a democracy, those attitudes need to change. We need to stand up and be counted without fear of harm and or excuses about how busy we are. If you are interested in forming part of a slate of candidates for the upcoming election that will hopefully offer a renewed common sense approach and some renewed hope and to help to heal Rimbey, contact me.
Long live freedom. Long live democracy.
Dave Karroll