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In a democracy, citizens choose their leaders. In a just society, citizens can become the leaders. These two principles—citizens have the right to vote and citizens have the right to run for office—underpin liberal democracy.
The right to run for office means that most anybody can get their name on the ballot. Consequently, some candidates may seem rather unusual. Yet, even the most unusual candidates give us the opportunity to think critically about governance and the democratic process.
This issue of The PLEA explores the right to run for office. In particular, it looks at people who have made satire a part of their election bid. Ideal for most any reader, Running Jokes fulfills several requirements of Saskatchewan’s Social Studies 30 and English Language Arts 30 curricula.
Results are announced in the United Kingdom constituency of Maidenhead, for the June 8, 2017 general election. Candidates included Theresa May, the UK’s incumbent Prime Minister (far left), Lord Buckethead, a perennial British satirical candidate (centre), Andrew Knight, representing the Animal Welfare Party (5th from right), and Bobby Smith, the man in the Elmo suit lobbying for family law reforms (far right).
