We all know that a democracy is the “best of the worst” type of governing system, where we elect someone from among those of us who live in a geographically defined area to congregate and represent our best interests. We don’t always elect the best and brightest but as the French say, C’est la guerre. Whoever gets the most votes gets the job for 4 years. One of the problems with provincial and federal politics is that the parties are constantly working at how to win the next election, and that really ramps up as that next election gets closer and closer. My phone keeps ringing asking for donations after the caller reads a prepared speech pointing out how bad the other guys are and how important it is to relieve them of the responsibilities of power, or conversely, how to stay in power. The radio and TV ads start to come more often, party foot soldiers go door knocking and delivering propaganda pamphlets. It’s another price we have to pay for living in a democracy. I read one time that way back before the days of telephones, television and radio, one way politicians found out what the people were thinking was to send their faithful volunteers out to local pubs and bars. They were told to go sip some ale and listen to people’s conversations and concerns. They were dispatched all over and were told, “You go sip here”, and, “You go sip there”. The two words “go sip” were eventually combined and thus we have the term “gossip”.

That’s Coffeetalk. I’m Vic Dubois.