So it is official then. The Conservatives have now seamlessly entered into the crazy realm of politics which we have usually, up until now, reserved for the more nutty elements of the Republicans in the US and among which Michelle Bachmann and Sarah Palin are two of the primary stars. Those of us who have paid attention and watched closely have known for some time that many members of the Conservative Caucus suffer from delusions and narcissistic complexes. Many of them are religious extremism and hold racist views. Though the media has largely ignored their worst excesses (for reasons that I will surely never understand), we in the real world know that our Prime Minister is a dispensationalist with suspicious ties to Western separatists and racists. We know that there is at least one Cabinet Minster who has hidden his or her homosexuality in a remarkable act of hypocrisy. We know that with the cooperation of a very sympathetic media the Harpercons have done a fairly good job of keeping their extremist and wacky views out of the public consciousness. They have done this because these people know that the Canada that they want to create is overwhelmingly opposed by the vast majority of Canadians and the Harpercons therefore have to make every effort possible to act through stealth and avoid accountability. When a friendly media (even the CBC has been remarkably easy on Harper and his thugs) is not enough, the Harpercons obfuscate, divert, attack and smear others, shut down government, and destroy every possible democratic avenue that they can while the LPC has either supported them or simply looked on in confused bemusement.
Every once in a while the nuttiness comes shining through despite the unprecedented controls on MP's public appearances and speeches. Yesterday we saw one such example of Conservative Party wackiness in the words of Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver who is boiling mad over the fact that Canada has a system of public accountability when it comes to major, environmentally risky projects. If there is one thing that the Harpercons can't stand, it is public accountability. This bias is part of their overt hatred of democracy in any form and their aversion to facts and the opinions of experts. The Conservatives even suggest that they will use their parliamentary majority to undermine the whole business of having experts and the public be able to voice official concern over the Conservative's neanderthal environmental approach. I would expect no less from mindless, backward brutes.
The best part of Mr. Oliver's rant against democracy, and the reason I bothered to post against this tyrannical cabal, was his claim that "without exaggeration" those concerned over the introduction of a potentially dangerous pipeline in BC were being financed by "billionaire socialists" in the US. This talk is right out of the Tea Party playbook - avoid the facts of environmental dangers by fabricating the existence of socialist opponents, drawing on the red-baiting of the cold-war era. Once again, it is facts that the Conservative caucus is afraid of. There are, of course, no billionaire socialists in the US, or anywhere else for that matter. One simply could not be a billionaire and a socialist at the same time. Next we will hear the Harpercons talk of Christian-Atheists! When pressed, the illustrious and powerfully ignorant Mr. Oliver named names, as rightwing extremists are wont to do, and mentioned the existence of George Soros as evidence of these shadowy billionaire socialists who are financing Canadian environmentalists. Rightwingers in Canada have a long history of attacking Mr. Soros because he is a man with money who has the gall to be an advocate of actual democracy. And as any good Conservative knows, a democrat and a socialist are essentially the same thing. Now, if I were Mr. Oliver I would be very careful what I said about George Soros because few men have the resources to legally ensure that you are accountable for the things you say about him. But I am sure than in this case, the words of a rightwing Canadian just gave Mr. Soros a moment of amusement. I mean, imagine accusing one of the world's richest men who made much of his wealth in currency speculation (one of the most overtly capitalist enterprises there is) of being a socialist! If the accusation wasn't coming from a minister in a sitting government it would be hilarious rather than terribly frightening.
However, even in the US, Tea Party opinions are more and more often being recognized for what they are - diversions from any sense of reality. As I have said before, the longer the Harpercons are in office the more their real instinct of ignorance and hate will emerge and eventually even their friends in the media will no longer be able to hide their real MO from the public eye. Just as Kevin O'leary is the best possible spokesperson for the left because his extremist form of capitalist hate, the Harpercons, with their hatred for democracy and facts, will become their own worst enemies. I await that day patiently.
Katalog Dapur Aqiqah
9 months ago
7 comments:
I hope you're right about the eventual Conservative implosion, Kirby. I think they'll need a little help to self destruct, though.
That's why I think Nathan Cullen's suggestion of an alliance -- not a merger -- of the left has legs.
I think the reason that Baird and Kenney won't come out is because Harpo himself is of the same persuasion but history and the 'need' to keep up appearances have him trapped in peculiar places.
Joe and Tony make me wonder as well.
Dear Anonymous - I believe that you are correct, though Baird has been much more open about it than any others. The press has had a long-time policy not to "out" anyone, though in Baird's case I don't think they should abide by that policy. Living in Ottawa one hears constant claims that Harper's wife is in fact gay an in a longterm relationship with a woman and that this fact is widely known by the media. Given Harper's attitudes I think that if this claim is true she should be outed immediately.
Why are you still optimistic that people will toss the Harpercons and their like aside? I look at history and all I see is one tyranny after another, one group of men dominating after another. No equality. Not even liberty.
Dear Anonymous - Yes, tyranny seems to be an ongoing narrative of history. However, traditional tyrants have depended upon brute force to maintain their power, while the modern tyrannically minded leaders have had to depend in part on a difficult amalgam of public support and manipulation. In such a context history seems to have a tendency to speed up and fooling enough of the people enough of the time becomes difficult. And when such leaders do fall it is almost always hubris that leads them to the path of destruction. This is surely true of Nixon, Thatcher, Mulroney, the Bush cabal, and many others. Power hungry people seem to act the same whether they are in a dictatorship or a so-called democracy in that they eventually think that they can say anything, do anything with no consequences. It is the A-type personality gone wild and they eventually cannot imagine a context in which they are not in power. Self-destruction is inevitable. The only real question is whatever replaces them be significantly better and this is where all we have is hope.
But this is my point? Isn't it all the same: is there really any difference between Mulroney and Chretien? Harper and Trudeau? I guess it is sort of like Douglas's White Cat - Black Cat thing. But even if we Prime Minister Topp or Mulcair, will it be any different?
Dear Anonymous, yes there are differences. They are small and incremental, but there are differences. My grandfather fought for the most basic rights, the right to organize, safety in the workplace, the right for women to vote, the five day work week, etc. My generation struggles for a better life for my daughter. Sometimes it is one step forward and two steps back, but when I was a kid in the US blacks still had to sit at the back of the bus. The struggle continues and sometimes the neanderthals try to bring us back to the days when children worked in factories, but there are differences. We gradually win the war, equal rights for women, gay marriage, etc. and the struggle against corporate ideology is going to be a tough one but there are differences even if they are sometime too small and frustratingly slow.
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