What a great time we had this morning chatting with Rick Mercer who called us while he was hailing a cab in Newfoundland this morning. Whatever your political leanings, Rick has a way of putting it all in perspective in a comical way.

Jamie and I were chatting about the interview after we had hung up and we both agreed that Rick Mercer is the real deal..no ego...no airs...just a regular guy who happens to have been gifted with a rapier-like wit which fortunately or unfortunately is aimed at our politicians who usually deserve a good dig or two...or three:)

Which brings me to MY rant this morning. I was on Facebook last week when I noticed that someone I knew and was quite fond of had posted this on his status update ...Insertnamehere... thinks that if you vote PC...you're an idiot! The aforementioned facebook friend was incensed( and understandably so) with the Prime Minister's ill-advised labelling of the Arts community as "Government Subsidized Whiners". He was also condemning the over 45 million dollars in cuts to various arts programs.  I'm not going to get into my feelings about that here because that's a blog for another day...

Now, while I admit that I was also shocked that such an ignorant comment was able to pass GO through the PM"s internal filter ...I was extremely offended at the gall of my Facebook friend for suggesting that ANYONE is an idiot for voting for any party. Especially when his argument was based on one issue. Regardless of whether or not that is my party of choice, I will make my own decisions thankyouverymuch and it will based on the best interests of myself, my country, my future children if I am so blessed, and where my own moral compass leads me.

My issue was this...I think politics, like the arts, are largely experiential and there are no wrong choices. I know as a student I voted exactly the opposite way of which I vote today. This is largely due to the path my life has taken, the personal experiences I've had, the life lessons I've learned, and finding out first hand the big difference between an ideal and reality... If there's one thing I've learned it's that life happens and it happens differently to each and every one of us. This is why we have four political parties to choose from on election day. All of them represent the separate life journey that all of us are taking, the choices we've made, and the lessons we've picked up along the way. The important thing is not who you choose, it's that you choose and you choose based on your core beliefs and values.

So...to Insertnamehere,  who has labelled an entire electorate as  idiots...perhaps it is you who is the one truly guilty of ignorance. Freedom of choice...that's the foundation of what this country was built on and I'm going to honour that for myself and everyone else who has the initiative to go out and vote on October 14th...regardless of which way the arrow on your moral compass points that day...Thanks for voting and not succumbing to the general apathy that is proving to be the real threat to this country.

Okay...nuff said

Tara Dawn is... finished her rant:)