“So…. you, uh, wanna form a coalition with me?”

“Were you putting the moves on me just so you could use that line?”

“Maybe. ….I mean, if I didn’t use it tonight, I’d have to wait five years for my next opportunity.”

*   *   *

I am not happy about the outcome of this election. I really thought the likeliest happening would be another minority government for Harper. But I thought I had lots of good reasons to hope:

a) the youth vote. So much talk about the youth getting stirred up. So many university votes mobs. And even the Conservatives making efforts to squelch the vote mobs and, YEAH, youth getting righteously angry about it.

b) inspiration. Canada does tend to follow the US in politics and this is the first election we’ve had since Obama won the US election. I was sure that having seen that, Canadian voters would be ready to respond to inspiration instead of fear-mongering campaign tactics. And we had parties who obligingly played those roles. With Layton’s consistent, “don’t let them tell you there’s no alternative. You do have a choice,” and “together we can do this.” Against Harper’s, “If you don’t give me a majority government, I am not changing a thing about the budget and then the scheming liberals will force us into another election or they’ll steal the government with a coalition.”

c) tight races last election. I figured our record-low voter turnouts were the biggest reason why Harper kept getting elected. I figured a lot of people on the left are idealists, and people with ideals would easily become discouraged with the state of politics the way they are now and they could more easily be swayed into staying at home. But I thought that a combination of bigger buzz (see youth vote) and inspirational talk (see inspiration) and knowing how very few votes it would take to turn the tide this time would draw out the voters who could make a difference.

I was wrong. Voter turnout was up, but just barely and Harper got his majority. I was at dance rehearsal all last night. While I had to dance, I left Ian’s tablet in the hands of a friend so she could keep tabs on the election results. I would look up and see her hunched over the tablet, biting her knuckle and think, “that’s not good.” During a break, she miserably held the tablet up for me, to the CBC website, with a graphic showing, “Conservative Majority” and I didn’t take it in. Two songs later, we were all up and dancing, and a little piece of my brain disengaged from the dance and started processing: “Ohhhhh no…. I get it. It’s not just that they’re still in power. Now there’s no getting them out. No chance of them losing the confidence of the house. No checks on the madness. They just get 4-5 years to do exactly as they please.”

*   *   *

Here’s a story I posted on my family forum and told a bunch at work today: