Western Newfoundland has some tough choices to make this week, and the result of those decisions has the capacity to impact the foreseeable future of this poor and beautiful province.
The provincial election has not exactly left voters with a sense of wonder. It’s been a boring campaign, save for a few districts that may surprise people with upsets in the outcome. We must remember, however, there’s no correlation between rowdiness and results. There’s nothing to say the Joey Smallwoods’ and Danny Williams’s of the world are needed to effect change and sure up prosperity.
So what should a voter look for? Who should they vote for? What party has the best plan to take us into the next four years?
The answers to these questions are neither easy or simple, and a lot of the “right decisions” depend on personal conviction.
What’s not for anyone, however, is giving blind or naïve trust to a candidate or party to do what’s right without giving it some of your own critical thought.
If you think a decision was right just because it was your political “team” making it, then you’ve missed the opportunity to play a hand in having your voice heard.
A political party is not exempt from making a mistake, regardless of how much support you throw behind it. Even if your party is aligned with your own personal politics, it doesn’t mean each and every decision or display of support will be the same as yours.
If there comes a point in time when your team makes a decision you don’t agree with, that’s OK. You shouldn’t feel the need to defend it on social media, nor should you pretend it was the right call. Instead, maintain your integrity, call up your representative and voice your displeasure.
You are not less of a team member by acknowledging what you deem to be mistakes. You are not less partisan-colour-of-choice.
You are, however, more gullible if think it’s OK to offer support where it’s not deserved. And by doing so, you also make give leaders — your government — a free pass to make that mistake over and over again.
