On Change in Politics

On a somewhat related note to the lengthy post below:

Change, by and large, is a good thing; even more so when we are talking about removing entrenched incumbents from political office. That said, one of the toughest things for the opposition party to do in an election is to convince the voters things are really bad when the evidence around them tells them otherwise. This is true once again in Canada – the economy is humming along, the government is running surplus budgets and decreasing taxes, and most people are happy with the social progress that has happened over the past few years. The last few elections, I keep hearing the Conservatives blow on about Canadians wanting change – yet I have never heard anyone actually say that. While many have legitimate gripes with the governing Liberals (myself included), not many actually want to change the direction the country is going. The fact that the Tories are telling people that’s actually what they want is not, I think, going to help them in the polls (yet again). I’d like to turf the Liberals out (as would many others), but I don’t want the replacements to come in and change everything. Making voters believe they’re unsatisfied with the current state of affairs is pretty tough when times are good and people are happy.