Homeless people are increasing in numbers and dying in increasing numbers, too. Cost of living has skyrocketed and it's affected everybody in our province. Jobs have been regularly shrinking in the province as business owners continue whittling down their crew to the absolute minimums as they focus on the easy way to increase the profit margin. Our healthcare system is, in my eyes, considered to have failed in rural communities as thousands of people remain unserved for their medical ailments due to the medical staff being overworked, understaffed and underpaid. Saskatchewan is on the verge of complete economic and societal failure. So why do people keep voting for the governments that allow this to happen?
I'd like to call this phenomenon "The Buzzword Principle." There's likely terminology that already exists describing the same phenomenon, but I like making things up and claiming concepts as my own.
The Buzzword Principle is a very simple concept to understand; if a single word or phrase receives enough negative attention, no matter how invalid or fabricated that attention is, it will become a meaningless buzzword that evokes negative emotions automatically. It's like eating a food you don't like; people hear the Buzzword and recoil as if their knee is struck by a doctor's hammer.
Here in Saskatchewan, the NDP has officially achieved this effect in the voting populace through no fault of their own. NDP canvassers who talk to voters will say that voters always agree on every single policy NDP has; improving our healthcare system, bringing jobs back to Saskatchewan, increasing the strength of worker's rights, improving hospice care, creating dental and pharmaceutical care plans similar to our healthcare plan. This would seem like a fucking home run; the voters want this, it should be a walk in the park to win an election by saying this! Unfortunately, every single voter who has agreed on these policies and wasn't already an NDP supporter?
They all shriveled up and spat upon the utterance of the NDP's name. No explanation, no rhyme or reason; they just hate the party.
This is because the Sask Party's spiteful, mudslinging campaign was so successful in brainwashing the populace that people don't even remember why they're mad at the NDP. All they feel is a strong negative emotion, and that negative emotion is never analyzed further. If any explanation is given, they say they voted for the NDP "once and never again." This could be an outright lie, or the voter genuinely did feel disappointed about the government they voted into power; however, this negative reaction was formulated almost 30 fucking years ago. 30 years later, and the NDP still has this Buzzword reaction.
When you're told that our current premier killed someone in a drunk driving accident in the early 90's - 30 years ago - suddenly this negative reaction to the NDP makes even less sense.
How has a man who killed a woman due to his poor decision-making allowed to remain leader of the province, while the NDP is spat on for their own poor decision making during that decade?
Who fucking knows. Maybe it was brainwashing, maybe it was corporate media corporations ruining their precious "unbiased" perception to destroy the NDP and regain a percent on their profit margins through tax cuts from the Sask Party, maybe it's just stupidity. Nobody fuckin knows.
But one thing I know for sure is this: our education system fucking failed the old fucks affected by the Buzzword Principle.
I've suddenly come to a realization about The Buzzword Principle.
Many people who openly agree with NDP policies yet refuse to vote for the NDP have stated they voted for the NDP once and never again.
What I've realized now is that these people are actively refusing to have hope. They had hope once, voted accordingly, and it didn't go to their liking. So they started voting for the disappointing political party because they could at least expect disappointment.
People aren't voting for policies they agree on; they're voting on which party has more predictable results.
This is more depressing than I thought it'd be.