when Norbert Cunningham is on, he is....

damn good. His column on the election (TandT, Sept. 24) is excellent. He examines the apathy about voting in the NB provincial election, and uses it to suggest reform is necessary because a democracy in which people either don't vote or vote for the least worst is not a democracy at all.

He's made a point worth starting from. What kind of reform. I would suggest two.
1. You cannot have a functioning democracy in which most party funds come from corporations.Inevitably, that produces governments which govern to meet the demands of corporations rather than those of the voters.
2. Just as school teachers are not to be blamed for low scores in reading, politicians are not to be blamed for being such twerps. The blame lies with those who elect them, the adults of New Brunswick.
This is a population that can't be bothered to keep itself informed, that refuses to discuss public issues or, when it does, simply rants because it is almost completely ignorant of what government is and what is happening.

New Brunswickers don't get involved. They don't take the trouble to learn about issues.They don't discuss them. They don't demand news media that keeps them informed. On the last weekend of the election campaign,the only interest the local population has is a football game, and the thrill of seeing pom pom girls whilc drinking beer in plastic cups.

While they rant about what's wrong with the schools and the teachers, they ignore the reality that what's wrong with the schools is the parents. They are what is wrong with the politics, too.