The Mediaeval Agenda of Conservatives. . .

I know people are probably too involved in election day to bother reading too many blogposts but as I read through the Blogging Tories posts to see how the Rightwing faithful were reacting to the failure of their savour, I ran across an interesting blogpost that really expresses just how wacky and hopeless the rightwing in this country really are.

This post at the rather dubiously titled Blog "Barrel Strength" demonstrates just how far many Tories have gone in their rejection of constitutional democracy. In the post the author tells us that Harper's real failure was essentially "not going far enough" in attacking the so-called 'activist' courts which he laughingly refers to as the "court party." He tells us that the Charter is a "dangerous innovation." In typical (off-kilter) Tory fashion this blogger actually wanted Stephen Harper to do more to undermine the courts, to further erode the principles of constitutionalism, and to thereby 'stand-up' for the 'King and country element in Canada.'

This frightening individual, twists the principles of constitutionalism so dramatically that it is fairly clear he doesn't even understand them at all. But then I think that this is true of most of Harper's die-hard faithful. His rather pathetic argument rests on the notion that if a court defends someone's right then it "burdens" the rest of society with an obligation because the rest of the people are compelled to observe that right. What a sadly small vision of society and what a terrible misunderstand of the function of the Charter and the Supreme Court!

In all countries where a Charter-like document exists, they exists to protect minorities from the will of the majority. And if you think of this as anti-democratic then you really don't understand democracy. Modern democracy from the time of the French and American Revolutions forward were founded not just on participation and representation, but on a healthy fear of the majority. What good a democracy if, for example, a small percentage of the population can elect a majority of the representatives and those representatives have ultimate and arbitrary power?! Far from being a democracy, that is better called tyranny. In the southern US, the majority, even in my lifetime, would have 'democratically' sanctioned a complete lack of rights for African Americans. No, democracy must mean a lot more than simply duly elected representatives doing whatever they want.

Modern democracies are split into triads for a very good reason. The executive should function as a unifier, a diplomat, a leader, and an organizer of the legislative branch. The legislative branch should act as lawmakers, representatives, and activists. But these two branches of government by themselves are always in danger of adding up to tyranny. Only with an independent judicial branch of government that interprets certain principles of equality can we avoid the arbitrary force of representative government. And you can bet that rightwingers like "Barrel Strength" would be the very first to invoke this principle if their rights were threatened!

I quoted this rightwing blogpost on our national election day to remind everyone that even if Harper loses today, the dangers that he and his followers represent are out there all the same. And they will take any opportunity they can to send us back to an age when only rich white men had rights and privileges. If ten years of Harper has taught us anything it is that democracy is a very fragile thing and the racists, the bigots, the Royalists, the corporatists, and the elitists will take every opportunity to undermine and destroy it, all the while touting righteousness and goodness.