Systematic Abuse. . . .

I am surely not the only one to notice that while every government is bound to fall prey to one kind of scandal or another, our present government is continually involved in scandals that involve some kind of systematic abuse of democracy and parliamentary process. Of course, the sponsorship scandal was not good, but any time you have millions of dollars floating around (whether in the private or public sectors), someone will eventually try to put their hands in the till. But at every turn, this government is systematically attacking, thwarting, and undermining parliament and democracy. From their handbook on how to shutting-down committees, to refusing to obey parliamentary edicts, to silencing government watchdogs, to shutting parliament, to suppressing the vote, to disregarding procurement processes, to labelling all opposition some form of treason, to outright lying to members of the House, this government is not simply scandalous, but is itself treasonous. Harper and his bullies have demonstrated again and again that law doesn't matter, what matters is power and the effort to hold on to it. This is why so many commentators, even ones outside of Canada, have been so ready to compare Harper to Nixon, because they both demonstrated a criminal, and arguably psychotic, will to power and seemed willing to do anything to maintain it. The whole thing would be comical if it weren't so frightening.

One presumes that such systematic illegality would eventually catch up with any government. However, as the Harpercons have demonstrated, if one can manipulate the voting system effectively enough, so-called democracy is no guarantee that you will not be governed by a dictatorship.