Bored Election Blogging

Would it surprise you to find out that if I really thought about it, all this daily election blogging I am doing is getting to be dull. I have done a daily post over at the CBC roundtable and maybe half as many again here. That is something like 75 posts on one topic. It is getting dull out there.

Why is it dull? Because I have become aware of what is really happening. It is sort of like watching a movie in a cinema. People all reacting in a group emotional event together, having a moment of shared swing syndrome. Sooner or later you realize this at the movies and it suddenly feels like a sort of techno-evangelical church praising Lord Pictures-on-the-wall.

This is not like me. Usually my gut reaction to "where two or three are gathered" is an urge to be elsewhere. Something happens to people when there are few ideas and lots of expectations and an election is the worst example for a couple of reasons. First, it is not about the details or what will really happening. As soon as the platforms were all finally released last week, they dropped off the radar. Second, it is too much like a bunch of branding consultants talking. If there is one thing worse than listening to a branding consultant talk about what your brand should be, it is a group of branding consultants talk about branding theory. And as branding is making something without certain characteristics appear to be something with those characteristics...well, you get the point.

Will I learn to blog again after all this is done? I worry about that more and more. I wonder what will fill the hours when I can't jerk my knee to the last poll or the last gaffe.

Comments

Arthur - January 18, 2006 8:35 PM

Elections are boring. Hey: What about this case?

cm - January 18, 2006 8:39 PM

Well, there's always cricket.

Gordo - January 18, 2006 9:39 PM

http://www.cruachan.ca/~gordon/blog

It's dull because you share my feeling that no matter who gets elected, it will be a minority government and we'll be doing this whole damn thing again in a couple of years. Three Federal elections in under four years. How does that serve anyone?

Voter turnout has beenin a steady decline for more than a decade. In the last election, voter turnout was 60.9%. Of those votes cast, 36.7 were for the Liberals. Our government was actually chosen by 16.7% of the country's population.

What's my point? None, really. The parties are all the same once they get into power. The Liberals steal for their close friends, the Tories goves breaks to the rich (thus stealing from the poor), who knows what the NDP might do. I, for one, would just like a government that does what we elect it to do and get on with the damn business of governing. RIght now, we don't have that at ANY level of government.

Alan - January 18, 2006 10:58 PM

Actually...I merely depressed by the fact that all the people I know who are ...you know...involved will be missing out in power and any chance I have for a bit of graft goes <i>pffft!</i> <p>Pffft! Very little chance at an extra tea cake or wee dram now.

Phil - January 19, 2006 12:06 AM

http://philatsun.blogspot.com

Gawd, I've become so used to hearing about how much better things are in Canada than in the States--national health care, gay marriages, balanced budgets and a military that only goes where it's invited. I'll give you all these things.

However, I think that living in the backward and socially awkward States has made us tougher and hardier than our Northern neighbors. You're bored about blogging an election that's been going on for a month? You even had a a freakin' break for the holidays!

We're already blogging about Hilary Clinton's expected run in 2008 (and she still has a Senate race in 2006 yet.) The official start of our campaign, the Iowa caucuses for the two major parties in the 2008 Presidential race are in February 2008--for a November election.

In the American parlance--"Suck it up!"