It may be less pure politics (whichever party) and more the candidate's interest in and support for the arts that brings Gord to the table, so to speak. People vote for candidates for the oddest reasons; I can't tell you how many stinkers have been elected over the years because the voters think the candidate "looks like a nice man." Ouch. I had an elderly spinster lady volunteer for years who voted for candidates, from local races on up to the presidential elections, on the basis of how handsome the candidates were. She didn't know or care what their beliefs or intentions were. She did not grasp the concept that there was no connection between looking good and doing good. And she could not wrap her mind around the concept of a female candidate at all.
This is our electorate, folks. Personally, I'd forget means tests and literacy tests and go for common sense tests before a citizen was allowed to cast a ballot. But that's the fun of democracy - almost everybody gets a whack at it in the voting booth.
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