TOWHEY: Affordability is the ballot box question
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The ballot box question in this federal election boils down to this: Which government can I afford?
There’s been a lot of talk, a lot of promises, and more than enough scandal. But, before you cast your ballot Monday, you need to assess what your vote is going to cost you.
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Canadians want to earn a decent living without having to work so long and so hard we can’t enjoy life. Most of us don’t aspire to be rich. But, we do want to enjoy some of the simple pleasures that used to be commonplace.
It would be nice if we could afford regular family vacations. That’s something my one (modest) income parents used to be able to afford annually, despite three hungry kids. Today, my income is higher than my parents can imagine. But, I can’t afford annual vacations. The last one was two years ago. The one before that, five years earlier.
It would be nice to live in a home that’s comfortable for our needs. After my parents divorced, my unemployed single mother managed to keep a roof over our heads with three kids in three bedrooms. We were poor. But, we could afford to live in a house. Something I can’t afford today.
My parents wanted us to grow up with more opportunities than they had. It was possible then. Today, I just hope my kids have some of the opportunities I had. Better seems impossible.
Some of the most popular TV shows over the past decade have been set in the 1950’s and 60’s. An academic who studies people, culture and politics, suggested to me this isn’t because people have a hankering to smoke cigarettes in meetings, toss back whisky in the office, or pursue serial killers.
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She thinks we’re nostalgic for a time when a working-class job, with a single middle-income salary, allowed families to live in a nice house, drive a new-ish car, raise a handful of kids, leave one parent at home, have dinner parties every week and take vacations twice a year. These are luxuries today.
When I cast my ballot, I will be thinking of which candidate could make some of those luxuries a little more attainable. I encourage you to do the same.
Which government might open up new markets or create conditions that would allow me to earn a little more money?
Which party might reduce my tax burden and allow me to keep a little more of the money I earn?
Whose policies will help make the things I need a little more affordable?
How likely is it I will benefit from proposed government payouts or rebates? Or, am I going to be the guy paying the bill for somebody else’s windfall?
Our job as voters is to exercise reasonable self-interest. If we each vote for the person, the plan, the party that will be best for us, there’s a reasonable chance the result will be in the best interest of the most people.
On the other hand, if we vote for someone we don’t like, just to spite someone we really, really don’t like, everybody loses.
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