This is not really about Donald Trump. It was just when reading the complaints of an academic about the choice of Trump that it became obvious that all he was saying was that we need to have smarter voters.
In many years of working on elections for political parties or for the returning officer, you do spend a great deal of time answering really dumb questions. Some people suggest having a little quiz for each voter to make sure they know the purpose of their vote. It is assumed that, in turn, we would have politicians elected who know what they are doing.
But not everyone would ever agree to that. Democracy means that the people have their say. It also means that any idiot can vote and should. It is why some of us object to Justin Trudeau’s elitist approach to appointing senators. Why cannot stupid people be represented in the senate?
Proof that we should not just have knowledgeable people vote was demonstrated the other day here in Barrie. Our city council members chose one of their own to be the city’s new financial head and then decided to choose someone to replace him as councillor for his ward. They were opposed to spending money on a by-election and decided to just pick someone to keep the council seat warm for the next 16 months.
They then had 32 citizens apply for the job. They had everyone from the Town Fool (100 to 1 shot) to one of their favourite reporters (5 to 1 in the morning line). If they had an election it would have meant expense and hard work for a few smart operators. There might have been 16 contenders running in a by-election but it would have quickly been narrowed to two or three potential winners.
But the obvious choice of council members was a former councillor from the ward area whom the councillors felt they could trust. He narrowly beat out another former councillor from a different ward. There were at least four former councillors vying for the seat. It would have provided them a platform to return to politics. Their only problem was they were asking people who know them to choose them. Politicians usually do better with people who do not know them too well.
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Copyright 2017 © Peter Lowry
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