51% of eligible voters voted

Frankly I am disgusted -- what good is having a democracy if you refuse to participate? To put this into context the Ontario Liberals got 71 seats based on the votes 21% of eligible voters. This means that one in five Ontarion's felt that the Liberal vision of Ontario was the correct one -- I won't make assumptions about those who chose not to vote.

I am not going to dispute the legitimacy of the Ontario Liberals right to rule -- they won the election based on the rules we have. I disagree with McGuinty that campaigns that call politicians liars, promise breakers et al would convince people not to vote. I mean lets get serious any party that has the Liberal war machine, namely Warren Kinsella and his ilk, behind it -- is going to run negative campaigns. And lets face it negative campaign work.

The disenfranchisement of the voter has to much more than that -- politicians are politicians, some are reptilian in nature others are saints -- most are in between -- they have been like this for centuries, and the public has been aware of it. Why are people refusing to vote? Would love to see some polling on this -- I am assuming it is a lack of a decisive vision for the future -- lets face it most of the policy initiatives across all parties came out of the same photocopier. The futility of voting when people feel nothing substantive is going to change.

The political parties and media also does a piss poor job in educating the voter on the need to vote -- the need to be part of the discussion -- it rather is seen as a closed club, fraught with insiders, full of scandals and graft and frankly from the media pretty poor reporting.

I personally think papers like the Toronto Star further exacerbate the problem with less than ethical reporting -- one sided and inflammatory headlines, bullying people into questioning their convictions and further alienating and marginalizing people who do not fit their narrow view of an idealized Ontarion and thereby increasing apathy and a sense of futility.

But then of course I could be wrong.