I'm still in a bit of a daze, but i wanted to post a few words about falling in love with the big apple. It's true; my lifelong suspicions have been confirmed: I heart NY.
I was smitten with this city from the first time i saw (cartoon) Spidey swing over the streets on TV when i was a kid; from the first time i saw Ghostbusters (hearing my mentor Winston Zeddemore proclaim his love for this town). Over the years my crush on New York continued through movies like The Fisher King and, of course, two of my seasonal favorites (for which i remain unapologetic) Scrooged and Elf. And that's just the cinematic romance; then there's the music, the literature, the art, the politics... good heavens. How could i not be seduced by a place where every crack in the concrete is legendary?
Anyway, as my luck would have it: today is the third annual NYC Anarchist Bookfair! I couldn't sleep in this morning (and we have definitely been catching up on sleep in the city that never does); it's like a special anarchist christmas! Visions of radical independent publishing dance in my head...
I won't recap every step of our adventure (i could write a Joycean epic about the first evening alone), but i will say that we've had some amazing vegan meals; last night we dined at the Candle Café. I'm sure i'll be writing some poems about the food soon (and adding new sections to my ongoing description of the great buffet that awaits us all in the afterlife).
I'll try to post again before it's over, but chances are we'll be busy: celebrating Sara's birthday, visiting her friends and their new baby, buying too many books, trying to see all the museums and get into the Daily Show, and so on.
But before we head back into the hustle & bustle, i have to remind all my lovely friends back home in Vancouver: there's only one month left to persuade everyone you love to vote YES in the electoral reform referendum on May 12th. We came within 2% of victory last time! Please, talk to your family and friends.
Changing the way power is exercised in British Columbia, specifically by empowering voters to indicate (dis)approval of multiple candidates will invite a significant deepening of political engagement and accountability.
I've wanted to be able to rank political candidates ever since i spoiled my first ballot in an Alberta provincial election back in the dark days of my adolescence, in the chilly shadow of the Conservatives' dynastic one-party government. I grew up in Ralph Klein's riding. The elections were pure formality; he won by a soul-crushing landslide every time. If i could have ranked candidates, rather than merely scrawling a dispossessed rant on the ballot, i might have indicated an acknowledgement of the legitimacy of two or three quixotic non-conservatives, and leant my weight to one or two joke/protest parties. And i would have declined to rank Ralph at all! It's a nice dream... But this summer we have a chance to make it come true in BC. I beseech you all: don't let obfuscation and mystification of the single transferable vote system scare you or your folks away from it. Yes, it's more complicated than first-past-the-post. Democracy is also more complicated than dictatorship; is that an argument against democracy?
The debate can be frustrating, but i look at it this way: whether or not you're fully persuaded that the proposed BC-STV system will actually bring about all of the particular hoped-for beneficial results (to name a few: more power-sharing, more independent and small-party MLAs, increased voter turnout and political engagement due to the vastly increased probability that [at least] one of each voter's top choices for political office will actually get a seat), we can be sure to see improvement in some of these areas of concern. Given the calamitous state of things in BC politically and economically (Campbell's opposition-free legislative reign; ubiquitous homelessness and poor-bashing), can we please agree that the current system is a collosal failure and a sad scrap of the potential for democracy?
The referendum is a chance to exponentially increase the depth of popular influence on the legislative assembly. Don't let it pass us by.
2 comments:
I'm excerpting you - I like what you wrote about STV-BC. I'll put your blog address in the excerpt. ...if that is ok. Let me know if not. `mama bird
of course that's cool, thanks! And no permission necessary to quote me, for you or anyone (especially if credit is given).
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