knitocracy?

Autumn is approaching, bringing with it that unmistakable and ever so common scent of... ahem... fertiliser wafting its way through the clear Toronto sky from Queen's Park. Yep - it's that time again in Ontario... back to the polls!

So, the promises are flying fast and furious and so is the cynical rhetoric. As I sit here mulling over the thought of yet again traipsing my dutiful way to the polling station come October, to check off yet another box next to yet another name of a person or party who has the potential for doing the least damage (and right now, quite frankly, no party comes to mind), I had a brilliant idea.

And thus may well be born Canada's newest political party. The Marijuana Party? The Communist party? The Pay No Taxes and Get Full Services Party? No, no and no. Something far more productive and exciting than any of those options...

Knitters' Action League (a.k.a the KAL)

Before you drop your needles on the floor and start either laughing at me or shaking your head... bear with me. It's my view that a knitting party is better placed to rule the province than any other party in recent... heck, any history ... for the following reasons:

- knitters tend to learn from their mistakes rather than repeating them over and over again;
- knitters always remember their promises (and, most often, fulfil them although sometimes this may take years... for proof, just check the back of your closet!);
- knitters know how to make economies when they have to, and also when it is important to go all out and spend;
- knitters are kind, gentle and civil to one another and to others and tend not to engage in useless self-aggrandizing shouting matches in public or print;
- have you ever seen a television advertisement in which one knitter disses another?!
- knitters have patience and tenacity;
- knitters as a group have a tremendous skill set. We are lawyers, doctors, accountants, homemakers, shop assistants
- knitters are charitably minded. They also play well with others.
- just think how much more fun it would be to watch the parliamentary channel if all of the suits were replaced by cheery and colourful knits!

The only downside I can think of is that some knitters experience problems with balancing a budget, for example, when they lay their eyes on that must-have pile of Handmaiden Sea Silk in teal, bright blue and raspberry (did I say that?!?). However, perhaps we could relax our standards and import one or two non-knitter economist types to point out that we can't spend the entire budget for the 2008 fiscal year on, for example, enough Super 10 to cover the whole province in a big log cabin blanket!

It's obviously too late now to get this act together for the upcoming election. However, there may very well be a federal election coming this way soon - so let's put on our thinking caps! Any suggestions, platform ideas, etc. welcomed.