Coming Soon. . . public executions. . . . .

It's always the same story isn't it? Politicians, particularly right-wing ones, talk about a devotion to principles like democracy, accountability, and transparency, and then they get elected. Then they demonstrate over an over again that they have no interest in any of these things. Instead they are interested in their own power and in pushing through their agenda regardless of any principe whatsoever. The truth is, of course, that the right has no interest in democracy or any valuable part of it. They are interested in money and power.

Harper was against an appointed senate but was happy to stack it with his cronies. But even if this move were somehow justifiable based upon the fairly simple fact that anyone who understood the Canadian political system knew all along that one could not simply eliminate or significantly change the Senate without the general agreement of the provinces, and you just aren't going to get that in the present situation, the blatant use of the Senate to completely undermine the will of the House is not justifiable on any standard, least of all the claims of principle that Harper has made in the past.

But watch carefully, no Conservatives will come to the defence of democracy. And they never do unless they are in opposition. This is how we know that the right has a bankrupt ideology. Democracy never comes into their minds as long as they are getting what they want. Harper could instruct the police and army to round up opposition leaders and put them to death in public hangings and the Blogging Tories would barely register the event. Instead we would see Pierre Poilievre on CTV saying "I have seen no evidence of public executions. But if such events are taking place you can be sure that the Liberals are behind it."

And, by the way, I have no doubt that as long as the Police were only executing NDP and Bloc opposition members, Ignatieff would quietly let the whole thing pass.

So it goes.