Beware! Flulection is Coming!

Flulection is coming and we are all going to run a high fever from it. Be warned, it's highly contagious.

You can catch it through contact with newspapers and TV. Only way to not catch it is to go for a camping trip to the Kalahari desert in Botswana and come back when everything is done and over. But for those of us who cannot disappear in the wilderness, we are sure to catch the disease. Once you have it, everyone in the home gets it. Fever hits as tempers rise with debates over the merits of one or the other party. Slander and gossip help combat the fever but it leaves everyone depressed and sad.

A more positive outlook helps reduce fever and bring down the temperature. Discussions about the positive aspects of each party (lies excluded - and one party has been quite vigorous on the issue of deception) will tone down the symptoms and bring reason to the debates. But that becomes so boring. Besides you have to be very well informed to avoid partisanship, which, sad to say, most of us don't bother to find out and separate fact from fiction. So we just get on with the sauna-like heated arguments and hope to sweat out the fever and get back to our normal lives.

The elderly and young mothers are hit the hardest by Flulection. That is because they have so much to loose. Especially now. Who will bring in the absolutely urgent electoral reform so that fair representation can finally come to Canada, as it has in most of the other 'developed' countries that are doing so much better for women and child care, education and health, economic recovery and peace, e.g the Scandinavian countries? Who will make sure that our social safety nets are brought back to stop the catastrophic drop of so many Canadians below the poverty line into the hole of despair, crime and no-return?

Who will make sure we return to being an active peace-bringer to a world that is on the brink of a world war - so many burning fires all that are fueled by the weapons industry? Finally who has the integrity and focus to serve the majority of Canadians, including the minority groups, with transparency, civility, and an authentic concern for the people's greater interest?

So, even though there is no cure for Flulection, we can help each other by asking the right questions and keeping positive. We can refuse to enter the turf wars that some parties will obviously try to drag us into and keep the fever down.

We need to remain focused on the Canada we want, rather than on the Canada we don't want! It is up to us, the people, to set the agenda and combat Flulection with the medicine of democracy and common sense.