Doomed Democracy July 14th, 2012 Poem by James Bredin

DOOMED DEMOCRACY
BY
JAMES BREDIN

Democracy depends on elections to make it work,
Elections depend on participation - not those who lurk,
Established politicians depend on their party to get there,
Less than half Canadians get involved in this affair.




So something is wrong and we should sit down and figure out,
Maybe mandatory voting would establish some clout,
Maybe voting for senators and High Court judges would help,
But appointees and all Parole Boards might scream and yelp?




And Parole Boards tend to let criminals out of jail,
Maybe murderers, rapists or those who couldn't make bail,
Turning our already soft justice system into junk,
While our so called Charter democracy smells like a skunk.

July 14th,2012