Go Canada!

I am liking my vote in Canada a lot more than a theoretical vote I might have in the US these days.  Mulcair and the NDP are actually in the lead right now and are favourites to win the next election, though not by much, and that makes me very happy.  For awhile I was leaning Liberal at least in part due to their stance on legalization of marijuana and the general ending of the war on drugs but that ended quickly.  The Liberals with Trudeau as their leader have taken a beating over supporting bill C-51, and rightly so.  We should not be surrendering our freedoms for security, especially when such security is there to protect us from fictitious threats.  Now that I realize that the NDP are also in favour of ending the ruinous and morally bankrupt notion of imprisoning drug users I can support them without reservation.

It is so nice to want to vote for someone who has a good chance to win instead of agonizing over strategic voting choices!

On the other hand there is Donald Trump.  Who apparently believes that Mexico ships all of its criminals and rapists into the US, and when called on such overt and disgusting racism decided to double down and defend his position.  Obviously his stances on the issues of immigration and border policy are reprehensible but they aren't even financially sound.  Immigrants, including illegal and undocumented immigrants, are a *boost* to the US economy, and indeed to other developed nations economies.  Those immigrants generally work extremely hard at rough, low paying jobs and don't end up consuming social services resources nearly as much as legal residents do.

I don't like it when people insist on being assholes to improve their own finances, but at least I can wrap my head around it.  Being an asshole in a way that costs you a ton of money is completely inexplicable to me.  Seriously, this guy is leading polls in some places on a platform of fiscal wizardry when he has been bankrupt multiple times and doesn't understand that immigration is a financial boon.

My mind, it is boggled.

Though I do hope Trump beats out the other Republicans somehow.  The guy can't possibly win a general election against any reasonable Democrat (hopefully Bernie Sanders!) and though the Democrats are *way* too right wing for me there isn't anyone else credible.  I am sure all the politically oriented comedians are with me on this one because Trump would provide them with a year's worth of fodder for no effort at all.