I'm Only a Bystander

There are currently 8 million Americans without adequate health care. There is a growing disparity between rich and poor in the USA. There are drilling rigs and road-builders getting ready to roll into the Alaskan Wilderness in search of oil. There are thousands of inner-city (mostly black) youths gunned down yearly. There are soldiers dying in Iraq so that you can have more gas for your SUV. There are three other countries with nuclear arms that we need to worry about. There is one country (and former empire) that cannot account for all their nuclear warheads. There are drugs flowing almost unrestricted through American schools. There are innocent people sitting on death row - who will die. There are women whose health will be at risk because they cannot access a legal abortion. There are same-sex couples whose basic human-rights are being suppressed. There is now zero restriction on buying an automatic weapon. There are film-makers and columnists who want to over-simplify the issues and the candidates. There are media outlets not giving you the entire story and not asking the "hard" questions.

So, as a bystander who lives next door, in that big country called Canada... could you please make this election about something other than when a frat-boy may or may not have done his military service? Could you please stop bleating over how injured one has to be to obtain a purple heart? Could you make this election about something other than ketchup?

Could you please make this election about making life better for everybody in your country, not just the upper 1%? Could you please make this about making the world a safer place, not for just Americans but for everybody on the planet? Could you please make this election about keeping our green places green? Could you please make this election about real freedom for the people of the world?

We'd appreciate it.