October 26, 2010: Ani DiFranco - Hello Birmingham

Ani DiFranco - Hello Birmingham: youtube.com/watch?v=3zWNUq5v_v4

Yesterday I went to city hall to vote. I was told to go there by the election website. Arriving, I was told I couldn't do anything there, I had to go East to the neighborhood in which it was last recorded that I lived. I don't live there anymore but it didn't matter to them, that was where I was to vote. So I biked half an hour to get to a church where there was construction out front, I had to maneuver my way around and into the church where my name wasn't recorded for voting. I had to fill in a form (or, rather, I was shown a form and a man filled it in for me without my consent, I had to make a fuss and get it from him, fill out a new one myself) and then I could finally cast my vote. Then I biked half an hour back into the city to home, where I sat down and read before work.

And I voted for someone who I didn't want in power and who lost anyway, making way for someone I feel if I were to meet in person his presence would be sickening.

So now Toronto stands on a mayor who doesn't represent me. And did anyone represent me in the first place?

I remain a voter simply because I'd rather vote for a loser and have him/her lose than not vote at all. It's a guilt thing, I suppose. I think of every election I've ever taken part I've only voted for one winner.

We will have this figurehead "run" Toronto from here out, he will say ridiculous things and ridiculous people will feel justified in their ridiculous actions. But he won't destroy me and he won't destroy the city. He'll just make things ridiculous. A friend said to me today that it will be a "4-year SNL skit," which, in citing an American establishment of entertainment, evokes so much of the further uselessness of Canadian politics.

I remember hearing this Ani DiFranco song years ago and not quite knowing what it was about. I've since surmised that she's referring specifically to the killing of an abortion clinic doctor, and quite graphically so, as well as the bombings of various abortion clinics, her own uselessness while standing in an election booth following. As if voting for an elected power will stop such madness.