The distruction of beauty.

I was driving along the Rideau river today and looking at the beauty of the changing foliage as it notifies us of the gradual shift in the season. I was elated by the warmth of the sun and the easy feeling that autumn is always so willing to offer up. I saw a Crane rise slowly out of the water against the soft blue background of the sky and disappear across the river to some unknown destination. I thought of the sweet innocence of my daughter’s face this morning as she jumped on the school and the smile that tickled her lips as she looked back at me over her shoulder. I considered the remarkable poetry of Coleridge that I have read lately and the depth of feeling that is available to us through the historical voice of our greatest poetic voices.

Then, from the corner of my cheerful eye, I caught sight of a Conservative election sign and I was overcome by a wave of nausea as I was brought back to the ground from my lofty heights. And I was forced to recall the terrible events of the last few weeks, and indeed over the last two and a half years as the Conservatives have slowly chipped away at the potential beauty of life. I thought about how almost every controversy or gaff in which the conservatives have been involved has demonstrated their fundamental meanness and dark and twisted way in which they look at society and the world. Think of it; while other parties have lost candidates to foolish mistakes like smoking to much marijuana, the Conservatives have been constantly caught making mean-spirited, cruel, and malicious comments about their opponents or some vulnerable group in society. The real tragedy of human life is not that events occur that cause human pain and hardship. Rather, the tragedy is that it has become acceptable, nay, even fashionable, to not only ignore these hardships but to cruelly persecute those who have suffered from misfortune. It is regrettable that the mean-spirited ideology of the Conservative party is being enshrined in our very system.

Despite the efforts of the great poets, despite the odes of Horace and the sonnets of Shakespeare, despite the most sensitive humanity of so many lovers and artists, caretakers of the human spirit, even with all these efforts, still the ruthless goons of pettiness and meanness can twist the fortitude of our endeavors into the basest coarseness of commerce and utility until there is nothing left of the beauty of life’s potential.

Don't Vote for Harper

Why People Shouldn’t Vote for Harper

Let’s forget for a moment whether one agrees or disagrees with the various policies of the Conservative Party. Frankly I am appalled by a number of policies of every party. And lets forget for the moment that Harper consistently lied about various issues like taxing of income trusts. Any party in power is going to be guilty of lying about a few issues if for no other reason than certain realities of governing are going to be a surprise even to the most ideological or experienced party leaders. One might notice that there is a great irony in the fact that the Conservatives built their entire public image on the notion that they were more honest and dependable than the Liberals but there are no surprises here. The over-riding reason that no one – no matter what your politics – should not vote for Harper’s government is very simple: They have shown time and again they have no respect for the sovereignty of parliament! On more than one occasion when the House has passed a bill that the Government doesn’t like or agree with, Harper has explicitly stated that they will simply ignore the law! A Government that has said that it is not bound by the will of the House has said in essence that it is not bound by the will of the people. Such a government has made it clear that they are not bound by democracy and has therefore lost the right to govern. When Harper’s Government said that it would ignore the House concerning the principles of the Kyoto accord or the issue of the lowering of the Flag, it showed that as long as the democratic process leads to results it doesn’t like, these results will be willfully and flagrantly ignored. (And, by the way, the Harper Government has shown that they will also ignore the results of international democratic process as well.)This is the stuff of which dictatorships are made. People who believe in democracy should never vote for a party or government that doesn’t believe in democracy!