Oxford County Politics
As many of you know, I’m originally from Woodstock Ontario. When I was growing up, Oxford County was a solidly Progressive Conservative riding. Occasionally, my mom, who was a closet Liberal, used to make comments to Dad over the dinner table that were veiled political comments and those little quiet zingers the closest the Robertsons, and by my own child-like extrapolation, Oxford County ever got to political variation.
Then I went to university, and the whole thing got turned on its ear. The county elected an NDP MPP in the great Bob Rae landslide and since then it’s been a Liberal / Conservative battleground. On election night, as I sat at my computer watching the results come in from across the country, I occasionally clicked on Oxford County to see how the results were looking back home. I was also interested because I was vaguely wondering if the Liberal candidate was related to a girl I went out with in high school. (I still don’t know!)
It was a reasonably close race that the Conservatives ended up winning, with a real breadth of candidates, including Kaye Sargent, the Libertarian who had been running since I was back in high school. (She always totally kicked everyone’s ass in the debates).
Many things happened that fateful night, with dreams realized and hopes crushed across the country, and the most important to me was not the election of Stephen Harper — it was my discovery of the most awesome political website in the world, the website for Jim Bender, Marijuana Party candidate in Oxford County.
Check it out. Click on it. The site has changed a little since the election… it has a nice Valentine message, but with respect to what makes the site awesome, it hasn’t changed. It has it all.
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Black background …check!
Red text …check!
Yellow text …check!
Green text …check!
Giant text (Jakob Neilson would be proud) …check!
Scrolling text …check check!
Spinning bong …check!
Floating hearts …check!
Twirling marijuana globes …check check!
Serif fonts …check!
Sans-serif fonts …check!
Use of the term “scratch n splif” …check!
Honestly, I don’t mean to be mean to the guy … for a few reasons. I know it’s not easy to make a website. It’s certainly not easy to make one like that. *rimshot*
Also, it’s easy to sit back and make fun of someone else’s efforts, but it’s not particularly nice or classy. Jim, if you ever read this, please don’t be too offended, I’m actually kind of a fan. Although I am mocking the presentation, I’m passing no judgement on the content. Although I think it’s safe to say I’m not ever going to vote Mary Jane, I have to admit, the passion and articulation with which the arguments are presented is admirable.
Besides… I’m not the target audience for this site. I honestly think that for someone who is leaning toward voting Marijuana, this site might put them over. I also think that this site would quite simply be AWESOME when stoned, and for that, Jim Bender, I tip my cap to you.