Should I Be Surprised?

So the new and improved, slightly 'evolved' Stephen Harper is the new prime minister. Huh. I was more stupified to learn that a measly 64% of the population actually voted and judging from the results, I'd say there were many opportunities to make a difference that were wasted.

Some of the things I heard on the radio:

1. A woman who said she was too wrapped up in her own "bubble" to vote. Is she kidding? What could be more important to her than the right she has to decide what happens to her own body? On what kind of a country she's living in? On whether or not health care will continue? No offense honey, but nothing in your life should have been more important than voting. It takes five minutes. You even get time off from work to vote if you need it.

2. One woman wanted the Conservatives to win but voted Liberal in her riding because she thought the Tory (and I loathe to call them that) candidate wouldn't win. So a lot of thought went into that vote, that's for sure.

3. People were voting for the Conservatives because they are 'sick' of the Liberals. This makes absolutely no sense to me. The same thing happened in Ontario after Bob Rae and the NDP frustrated people; they voted for Mike Harris, who then proceeded to be the worst premier the province had seen in decades, maybe ever. It's a knee jerk approach with no understanding for the larger issues, the greater good. And now when the crazy sh*t starts happening and things start to change, people will start complaining and wondering what went so very wrong. When unemployment creeps up and our troops are getting killed in Iraq and we carry a deficit for the first time in over a decade, then they'll all be wondering why they voted for the knucklehead in the first place.