I trust I can rely on ... your vote

I thought I'd muse for a moment about the election going on in France right now. My sister is living there and god, am I jealous. Canadian elections happen so often (it seems, lately) that they do not have the same kind of pomp and circumstance that an American or French election commands. In Canada, an election can be called anytime within a time frame of four to six years, whenever the government in power decides it ought to do one. Consequently, an election can be called, and over and done with in less than a month. Two years ago, they had the brilliant idea to begin campaigning over the Christmas holidays. Canadians were not impressed.

Two and a half years ago, I got to experience a U.S. election firsthand -- boy, was it an event. The lights, the buzzers, the commentary ... In the U.S., everyone stays up all night to see how the different states will rise or fall like dominoes for the party for which they stand; in Canada, people might watch the news, hope that their guy makes it, talk a bit about what they think'll happen ... then go to bed, and just read the paper in the morning.

My guess is that France's system, with its history, prestige, and three-party system, is somewhere in between the two. Being a more-than-two-party system must help make Canadian and Francophone electioneering slightly less of an all out tug o' war, the way the American system seems to go. I find that a third party -- an alternative -- always makes things more interesting. In addition to the centre-left (Liberal), centre-right (Conservative), and third alternative (in Canada's case, left -- the NDP) parties, Canada also has the added monkey-wrench of the Bloc Quebecois, a national political party founded on the premise that Quebec, it's main constituency, ought not to be part of this country at all (ironic, really...but go figure -- they often hold a third of the seats in the House of Commons, and consequently also the balance of power).

Though my psyche always hopes that the third alternative will get the attention it deserves, and my heart goes out to the hard-core socialist principles behind Segolene Royal's campaign, my logical mind concludes that, at the end of the day, it is Sarkozy who will likely win. Not because he is the best, but he is definitely the man we know most about -- and if my experience as a casual outside observer of the 2004 U.S. presidential election is any measure, it is the politician that he hear and we know the most about who often takes home the prize. Even though we fear them, even though we don't fully trust them, we still choose them. Perhaps it is the only devil we know; perhaps it is human nature to gravitate towards the thing that most interests and compels us, rather than what is best for us.

Or, as I think is true in Canada and the U.S., perhaps we are just entering into a more conservative time. The Bush Administration's success over the last seven years certainly attests to that. And Canada's current government -- minority or not, since their consolidation with the old Reform and Alliance members, Stephen Harper's Conservatives are perhaps the most right wing conservative party that Canada has ever had.

Whatever happens in France over the next few weeks, it's clear that political tides in the West have turned. But nevertheless, this too shall pass, and like all things, eventually the pendulum will swing back.