tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611409863712113861.post6796617066103526553..comments2023-06-27T10:33:35.086-04:00Comments on kirbycairo: Political Shifts and the (apparent) Falling fortunes of the NDP . . . . Kirbycairohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17528654183160305877noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611409863712113861.post-55627365945466811342015-10-07T20:09:54.434-04:002015-10-07T20:09:54.434-04:00@ Lulymay - I agree with much of what you say Luly...@ Lulymay - I agree with much of what you say Lulymay. But of course, not voting is no answer. There are other parties to vote for and the Green Party is one that really is trying to address many of the problems that you are talking about. If we start believing that the bad guys have won, then they are already have. I have to believe, for my daughter's sake, that we can still make things better. Kirbycairohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17528654183160305877noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611409863712113861.post-67543361896971138562015-10-07T17:57:05.398-04:002015-10-07T17:57:05.398-04:00Over morning coffee today, my 80+ husband declared...Over morning coffee today, my 80+ husband declared that he is totally fed up with this long dragged out election campaign and the only conclusion he has come to is that he wonders why he would even want to vote, given that in his opinion, what are any of these political leaders going to do that will benefit me? I've always voted (parental training) and found myself having to agree with him. While so many talk about "I worked hard for my money and I don't want to pay taxes or for anyone else whose too lazy to work", I don't see much ahead for my grandchildren in terms of quality jobs that pay enough to marry and raise a family, never mind being able to afford a home.<br />So, while I'll had that we both "worked hard" for our money, we mostly stayed within a strict budget in order to put something aside to get us through old age without having to rely on others, but we all know how much interest we earn at 1.17% a year don't we? From my perspective the only ones doing very well these days are politicians in the ruling neo-con camp and CEOs and some very senior managers. The rest of us are plain bloody toast in today's world.<br /> Lulymaynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611409863712113861.post-39771545814873105892015-10-06T22:17:55.927-04:002015-10-06T22:17:55.927-04:00.. Polls & vague Promises have replaced Issues..... Polls & vague Promises have replaced Issues, Policy, Performance, Public Service and Reality.. much to the delight of Stephen Harper. Continual deception, deceit, failure and outright lies lose out to the trumpeting of all knowing, microscopic margin of error Polls and the breathless reporting of the 'horserace'. its an Election as Farce.. & different from Election as Fraud.. but what else to expect from those thick patriots Harper, Novak, Byrne, Hamilton, Van Loan, Lecce.. ? What is stunning is the complicity and oftimes mirth, of Mainstream Media.. instead of howls of outrage and indignant detailing of the litany of lies... Canada may have to be saved by a lonely whistleblower or rebel, or astounding environmental patriot.. as we are not seeing a savior within the political realm or mainstream media.. Sad but Truethe salamanderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06853337802990122289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611409863712113861.post-25814056417887461612015-10-06T21:08:28.758-04:002015-10-06T21:08:28.758-04:00@ Anonymous. I was, you are right, being too gener...@ Anonymous. I was, you are right, being too general in my terms. I was indeed referring to what are more accurately referred to as "assault-style" weapons, and the increasingly lax attitude toward gun control in general under Harper. Funny enough, I generally don't think weapons are a big problem in Canada (or at least they haven't been so far). Though I favour a gun registry (because I just think it is common sense) and a general ban on handguns, there are, in fact, many guns in Canada and they don't present the kind of problem that they do in the States because of cultural issues more than anything else. But here is the problem for me - I think that Harper's conservatives are actually promoting the kind of divisive society in which, like in the US, guns will become a problem. If you promote the kind of hate, racism, and lawlessness that the Conservatives stand for, our society will inevitably become more violent and then we will see how easily guns can be a problem right here in Canada. Kirbycairohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17528654183160305877noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611409863712113861.post-57923124561733159662015-10-06T17:33:00.284-04:002015-10-06T17:33:00.284-04:00I think your analogy to sports team is right on. I...I think your analogy to sports team is right on. In my observation, most people's political preferences are merely aesthetic.<br /><br />You make reference to Harper making it easier for assault rifles...This is, I believe, incorrect, but I'm not sure what you're referring to. Part of this might due to the now-common conflation of the term "assault rifle", which historically refers to a rifle capable of selective fire (ie: automatic fire and/or burst, and single-shot), with what in the US was termed an "assault weapon" in the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban, which prohibited certain combination of characteristics (eg: bayonet mount with a folding stock, or pistol grip with a large-capacity magazine) - but these were on semi-automatic weapons and the 1994 AWB did not further restriction fully-automatic weapons in the US (as a functionally-different weapon, they are restricted by other US Federal Acts).<br /><br />I think you may be referring to the Government recently reversing a 2014 RCMP decision to ban the Swiss Arms and CZ 858 rifles. They did so merely because they visually resembled assault rifles - not because they were actually assault rifles. They had been legal in Canada for years. The RCMP's rationale was flimsy. The Government overturned it.<br /><br />And you may be in favour of banning them anyway. Which is fine. But the RCMP's decision was not really compliant with the existing criteria.<br /><br />Actual assault rifles remain illegal in Canada for everyone but the Armed Forces and police services.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611409863712113861.post-90620641605020343052015-10-06T17:08:42.198-04:002015-10-06T17:08:42.198-04:00I'm not so sure how that change will take plac...I'm not so sure how that change will take place Kirby. For one thing we don't know how much Harper has advanced his neoliberal agenda. If a new government is formed we'll have to see if they will undo at least some of the damage neoliberalism has done to our democratic sovereignty.I think the big change has to be getting rid of neoliberalism, a tough thing to do when we have trade deals signed with neoliberalism dictating what there real function really is.Neoliberalism is a word the MSM never even mentions, nor the opposition for that matter. When that is the very thing that has to go, even starting on it is hard when most don't even acknowledge that it exists.I don't think Harper will get back in, not even with a minority. That leaves Trudeau. Let's see if he knows what real change, really is. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07842215982128591742noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611409863712113861.post-57260222349856037322015-10-06T16:32:49.948-04:002015-10-06T16:32:49.948-04:00Thank you for the comment Simon. You may be correc...Thank you for the comment Simon. You may be correct. But it seems to me that the NDP slide began before the Niqab issue. And I don't know if I agree with your argument concerning the Liberal rise in Quebec given the fact that Trudeau has been unequivocal about the Liberal position in this regard. However, you are certainly right about the dangers of the Harper regime. Kirbycairohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17528654183160305877noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611409863712113861.post-80662276680677238552015-10-06T15:23:43.411-04:002015-10-06T15:23:43.411-04:00hi Kirby...I agree with a lot of what you say, but...hi Kirby...I agree with a lot of what you say, but in Quebec the niqab issue is what has done the NDP the most damage. It's true that because many Quebecers are annoyed with the Quebec Liberal's politics of austerity Mulcair's balanced budget mantra did not impress many of their supporters. But the niqab issue was the one that caused their precipitous fall. Only that can explain the way the Bloc has been revived, and why the Cons have received a significant boost. The fact that the Trudeau Liberals haven't suffered as much and even got a tiny boost is because off the island of Montreal the Liberals aren't or weren't a factor. And because of that they weren't targeted to anywhere near the degree Mulcair has been. The sad fact is that Mulcair and the NDP in Quebec have paid a terrible price for standing up for what is right. The good news is that many Quebecers are still looking for a winner to evict Harper, so that if Trudeau is able to do well in the rest of the country, especially Ontario, there is still a very good chance that many could jump on the Justin bandwagon, like they flocked to the NDP in the last election, after they saw that Ignatieff was going down. <br />Finally I agree with both you and Mound, real change will come when the forces of history make it impossible to support the existing system. But with an aging population Canada probably will not be leading the charge. And in the meantime with only 13 days to go before the election we should all be concentrating all our efforts on getting out the vote and defeating the Cons.<br />For while the progressive parties may not lead us to Nirvana, Harper and his thugs will dismember what is left of this country...Simonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15309809679331128837noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611409863712113861.post-30160374739945049182015-10-06T14:38:04.572-04:002015-10-06T14:38:04.572-04:00If you are correct, Mound, and change from our pre...If you are correct, Mound, and change from our present situation requires "clear and broad public awareness," then we have very little hope. However, history suggests to me that this is not the case. It seems to me that most large, historical, socioeconomic changes do not, in fact, result from a clear and broad public awareness of what is going on. Rather, all that seems to be required is that there be public awareness of what is "NOT" going on; in other words the basic failures of the system are what bring on revolutionary changes. The results of such changes are, of course, always partial and mixed, but they occur much of the time without the larger public understanding much of the complexities of the system that they oppose. Kirbycairohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17528654183160305877noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611409863712113861.post-9551813779792120762015-10-06T14:10:20.203-04:002015-10-06T14:10:20.203-04:00The politics of the past, even the politics of tod...The politics of the past, even the politics of today, will be radically transformed over the next 20-years, Kirby. Experts in these things warn that the nation state is in irreversible decline through a confluence of events and circumstances. State sovereignty, for example, is fettered with each global trade pact joined. We have an emergent "dark government" that operates in parallel to the public government. Look how Harper has severed public access to our supposedly public institutions that he has now harnessed to his own partisan, political purposes. Corporatism is ascendant, the main driver of growing inequality (of wealth, income and opportunity) that transfers not just wealth but political influence. <br /><br />I did one online course that explored the decline of liberal democracy and its replacement by illiberal democracy of various degrees. You still get to vote but your voice doesn't matter much once the ballots are counted. The worst part is we cannot arrest this decline without a clear and broad public awareness that it's happening and a corporate media is not inclined to focus on this. It's telling that only the Green Party has a policy to restore a free press to Canada. As for the others, not a peep.The Mound of Soundhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09023839743772372922noreply@blogger.com