I voted for Justin Trudeau and I’m sorry

I was a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed youngster. At 19 years old, not having worked a full-time job, and still living in my parent’s home, never really paying taxes or having to worry about rent, I decided that my vote should go to Justin Trudeau.

I was hungry for change, and Stephen Harper did not represent that to me. I wanted to see real change. I knew the world was unfair, but I didn’t fully understand why.

My first mistake was taking Justin Trudeau at his word. To him, it was simple. All of our problems had a clear and defined culprit, and his name was Stephen Harper. I was told that he was hateful, that he was crooked, and that he was bad for Canada.

Trudeau was apart of a new wave of politicians that didn’t appear to be a cut from the same cloth. At that time, in my mind, all politicians were old white men. U.S. President Barack Obama ushered in an era of a different type of leader, and to me, Trudeau seemingly fit that same mold.

I was young, naive, and wanted change. Justin Trudeau tricked me into supporting him, and I still regret casting my vote to the Liberal Party to this day.

It’s not like I wasn’t warned! My father, a staunch conservative, warned our family. He told us he was young, incompetent, pompous, a rich-kid, and that if he was anything like his father, he’d do our nation harm.

Unfortunately for my father, those were the exact same talking points that the conservative smear adverts were running. In my 19-year-old brain, this was propaganda that was intended to discredit a competent, forward-thinking leader. Little did I know, I was the one falling for propaganda, as Justin Trudeau ended up being none of those things.

I wasn’t so much a social justice warrior as much as I was tired of the status quo. I had no ill-will against either political party, but I did feel as though the current government had overstayed their welcome, having been in power for over a decade.

Okay, but what the hell did I know? If any 19-year-old tries to tell you about politics, take it with a grain of salt.

To the young people of this country that are looking to vote Liberal in this upcoming election, I plead, do your research. Don’t listen to what people are telling you about either political party. Look up the information for yourself. Go to the sources of the article, and don’t just read the article alone.

Talking heads have no interest in being factual as much as they do being correct. Don’t listen to them. Find voices that you trust. For myself, it ended up being a well-known YouTube news person, Philip DeFranco.

Please, learn from my mistake. The Trudeau Liberals have done nothing to help me, and I’m ready to champion in real change. To those who say “I told you so,” I say back to you, “you sure did, and I’m sorry.”

What do you think? Let us know in the comments below.