As I write this post, I am sitting on a Greyhound bound for the Peace Country. As the bus drove along our provinces northern highways this morning, through Westlock, Slave Lake, and other communities I was reminded of how absolutely stunning and how diverse our province is.
Mountains, desert, prairies, foothills, and forests can all be found here and even more diverse are the people living in Alberta.
As readers of this blog might know, one of my biggest pet peeved is hearing people stereotype Alberta as “redneck” or “backward.” We may be many things, but we are certainly not “backward.”
As a political person, these thoughts quickly reminded me of a Facebook comment made by my friend Samantha Power about politics, and the opportunities presented to Albertans with the change in political leadership in three of our political parties.
“Politics shouldn’t be a game. It should be an extension of your effort to create the world you believe should exist.”
The majority of Albertans have become accustomed to sitting back and letting political gamesmanship guide the direction of our province’s future. With upcoming changes in political leadership and an election within the next two years, Albertans now have an ideal opportunity to take ownership over, participate in, and help create that world we want to live in. I hope we step up.
3 replies on “deep political thoughts on a bus to the peace country.”
When I was in Trochu last week, passing out information pamphlets for the Alberta Party, a farmer took one look at the pamphlet I offered and said disgustedly, “you people are all the same.”
I asked him, “just who do you think I am?” and drove home the fact that I am myself a farmer, who drove (on my own dime) to attend the meeting.
I told him I work 12-hour days, six days a week to pay the bills, send my kids to hockey and dance… and have little left over at the end of every month.
In extremely blunt language, I added that it is, in fact, people who believe our democracy is something other people do… and not something we all have to be involved in… who are the problem.
The accusation that he was a problem for not being part of any potential solution came as a bit of a shock, I think… especially coming from someone like me… a political nobody with little to gain except for knowing I am not leaving the responsibility of my democratic rights to someone else.
If all politician were like Will Munsey, this world would be in much better shape.
You might be interested to learn that the term “redneck” is a reference to Union coal miners in the Appelachian mountains who wore red bandanas around their necks as a sign of solidarity. To be a “redneck” was a sign of status as you made more money and worked in better conditions than non-union miners and it meant you were a good, hard-working union man who looked out for his brother and fellow rednecks. Some see that as a negative connotation, others see it as something positive.