Terahertz

After some prodding from friends who read my initial post on the possibility of creating a political party for the 2011 Vancouver civic election, I’ve realized that there is a growing demand for a grassroots secular-based political group.

So with that I’ve created a Facebook goup and WordPress blog (for those not on Facebook), to act as gauges of interest in the project.

The responses that I’ve gotten have fallen into two categories.

First, there’s the people already active in politics who are worried that any new political party will split the vote and give united conservative or religious groups the advantage.

Second, there’s people who are entirely disenfranchised with existing options and see this as a project that they could actually get interested and involved in.

While the first group’s concerns are valid, I have a few responses. First, at the Vancouver civic level, we don’t have to worry as much about splitting the progressive vote, since it represents a large majority of voters. Even further, if we run one (or any number less than a full slate of) candidate(s) for council, then we can still have a progressive voice while also bringing our issues into the discussion. In many cases, third (or fourth) parties are created often as single issue parties just to get their voice to the table (see the Nude Garden Party or the Work Less Party). So I believe there is value in creating these parties.

Of course, even if we don’t create a political party, we can always transform this group into a political lobby group that advocates for secular issues at various levels.

Finally, as I’m already the secretary for both CFI Vancouver and the BC Humanists, the VP External for the Freethought Association of Canada, and the treasurer for the SFU Skeptics (on top of being a full-time masters student in physics), I don’t currently have the time to launch this full time, and will be relying on volunteers coming forward who want to see this project get off the ground.

So with that said, join the Facebook group, check out the blog (and offer to write for it), or email me to help out.