I am watching the Republican primaries with great interest. There is a great range of views being put forward with great passion. Still, I have to laugh.

Everybody seems to be attacking everybody else. Every flaw in the person's character and beliefs are being exposed. One of the words you will hear is that somebody "flip-flopped" on their opinion, as if it is wrong to change your mind if circumstances change or new information is revealed. It makes you wonder if any of the candidates is capable of doing the job. Winning the nomination is so important, it doesn't matter how you achieve it.

This isn't what makes me laugh, though. What makes me laugh is that next year, when the election is on, the person running for the Republican party, and the Democratic party, too, will be the perfect candidate for the job. All of the imperfections will be forgotten by each party and the focus will be on attacking the oppononent.

It reminds me of missles that seek and destroy the target. Once it is obliterated, then a new one is sought out and the process is repeated. The election then becomes a campaign of tearing down the other person instead of building up ideas. I feel it has led to a split in the United States that has polarized the country more than I can remember.

My concern is that the same thing is happening in Canada. We seem to fall asleep between elections and let the government govern. I'm not so sure if that is bad or good.

It is interesting that we have trouble getting half of our eligible voters to cast a ballot in elections where some Arab countries that are tasting democracy for the first time in a long time are experiencing high voter turnouts. It makes me wonder who is practising democracy to the fullest.