Can a shoeless man become Mayor of Guelph? Joseph St. Denis is betting he can. St. Denis
entered the race this past spring with a goal of shaking up the status
quo. Regular politicians aren't good enough to represent us, he argues,
and the poor voter turnout in the 2010 election reflects that. Maybe its
not the quality of politics, he proposes, but the content of our
politicians. He may not be as polished, he may not have a platform, and
he may not have a pair of shoes, but that doesn't mean that St....
Can a shoeless man become Mayor of Guelph? Joseph St. Denis is betting he can. St. Denis
entered the race this past spring with a goal of shaking up the status
quo. Regular politicians aren't good enough to represent us, he argues,
and the poor voter turnout in the 2010 election reflects that. Maybe its
not the quality of politics, he proposes, but the content of our
politicians. He may not be as polished, he may not have a platform, and
he may not have a pair of shoes, but that doesn't mean that St. Denis
isn't in it to win it.
"Shoeless" Joseph (he is
not, as he says in the podcast "Shoeless Joe") is running for mayor not
as a politician, but as a philosopher. Believing that people are sick of
politicians, he thinks a philosopher is more welcome in the race. His
platform? Forget about it! "I don't really have one," he says in his
campaign literature. "I hate platforms. Platforms are, by definition,
just things used to raise stuff above other stuff. Platforms are for oil
rigs and politicians. I am a simple computer technician and
workingclass philosopher. Politicians need platforms to raise themselves
above the people; philosophers understand that they are never above the
people. Well, except for maybe Frederich Nietzsche."
St.
Denis' campaign includes the handing out of campaign literature in both
hard copy and DVD. He's not going to talk at you about taxes and
Urbacon, but rather he wants to suggest that the change we seek begins
with the system. Our democracy is sick, he thinks, we need new blood and
new ideas to get into the system and shake things up, take power out of
the hands of career politicians and give it to people that want to
address real concerns. It's either optimistic or naive, but darned if
St. Denis isn't able to sell it.
Here's the Politicast interview with Joseph St. Denis.
You can learn more about Joseph St. Denis' campaign e-mailing him at joe@datamatrixpc.com,
or by calling him at 519-824-5660. You can also keep your eye open for
him while you're out and about downtown, where he'll be handing out
campaign literature.
The theme music for Guelph Politicast is now provided by Crazy Pills and their song "Break It Down" courtesy of Free Music Archive.
The host for the Guelph Politicast is Podbean. Find more episodes here.
Stay tuned for from episodes of the Guelph Politicast as we count down to the 2014 Municipal Election on October 27.
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