History continued

It is history that people have trouble with; they have trouble learning lessons from the past and placing those lessons in their own time. If they could see history more effectively they would know what the forces of conservatism have meant in the past, and they would know the dangers that they represent for the future. Even Edmund Burke, the conceptual founder of modern Toryism, as brilliant as he was, was unable to place himself in historical context. He had spoken so eloquently in defense of the established powers of society, and had helped to define the modern notion of conservatism and yet when it came time for him to retire, Lords Bedford and Lauderdale had opposed the granting of his pension on the grounds that it was contrary to his own principles of conservatism. Many of the people who today vote conservative will eventually suffer its wrath when their children or grand-children can no longer afford health-care or get an education, or eventually they will lose their most basic and fundamental rights. There was a time, not that long ago, when people were chained to their machines in factories. The only thing that saved us from these worst excesses of capitalism were people who sacrificed their lives in the trade-union struggle against the forces of conservatism. Read history and don’t be fooled by conservatives who have us march headlong into the past.

Destroying Democracy

The real tragedy of the Harper government is not the recession that they have brought upon the country and the incredible tax breaks and subsidies they have given large corporations, ensuring that the government cannot buffer the country against the deepening economic crisis. (People should now realize that the Conservatives are not nearly as fiscally responsible as they claim) The real tragedy is that the Harper government has systematically taken the government out of the hands of the people, centralized it and made it significantly less accountable. Besides giving ministers greater powers, and outlining specifically how committee chairs can disrupt the democratic process, the government has made specific moves to ensure that government can function with greater secrecy without citizen access. One significant move that Harper and his cronies made was to end the Constitutional Challenge program, ensuring that governments can institute almost any policy without fear that their efforts will be overturned by the supreme court. Another move that will significantly impact how governments function in the future is Harper’s total failure to enact a meaningful accountability act. The pitiful Accountability act that the government did bring in was nothing but a smokescreen to create the appearance of accountability. Judge John Gomery specifically said that Harper’s effort to centralize the PMO is a ‘danger to democracy.’ To paraphrase Gomery – just because you call something an accountability act doesn’t mean is intended to create accountability! Other things that the government has done to destroy democracy include making freedom of information significantly more difficult, undermined organizations that work to protect women’s and minority rights, and, perhaps most tragically, destroyed almost all government funded adult literacy programs. In a democracy knowledge is power, keeping a population in ignorance has always been one of the favored ways for right-wing governments to undermine the democratic process. Even going back to men like William Pitt and Edmund Burke, Tories have done everything they could to undermine the spread of knowledge and education to ensure their continuing power. In two years of Harper’s leadership democracy has suffered a terrible blow, a Harper majority will debilitate democracy in Canada, perhaps irretrievably.

Heil the Fuhrer!

"Sieg Heil!"

If Harper gets his majority we will all learn our place in the New Order of Canada! Be afraid .... be very afraid!

What will happen

If the Tories win a majority, I am seriously considering hanging myself before they do it for me.

Harper on the NDP

Stephen Harper, in a speech to the Council for National Policy, said that ‘the NDP is a kind of proof that the Devil lives and interferes in the lives of men.’ (Now, despite Mr. Harper’s obvious sexism, I will give him the benifit of the doubt that he also thinks that the devil interferes in the lives of women) Anyway, let’s look at what this statement really means. Mr. Harper believes that the New Democratic Party is a demonic organization, the policies of which are inspired by Beelzebub. Of course, the statement does not make it clear in what capacity or to what degree Lucifer has guided the workings of the NDP. After all, many levels of interference are possible. Mr. Harper might simply think that the devil is responsible for Jack Layton’s mustache, or might assume that the entire leadership of the Party are agents of Satan. Or perhaps he believes that Jack Layton is the himself the Prince of Darkness, spreading his message of evil through environmental policies and the guarantee of universal childcare. I guess it’s a stretch but I can see it. It’s like this; the federal Government makes childcare available to any family that wants it. This means that the financial burden on parents is greatly alleviated and suddenly a lot more women go out and pursue greater levels of education and career opportunities. Not only do these women quickly realize that their husbands are a bunch of beer-swilling bums who spend most of their time watching sports but they are faced with the fact that men get paid significantly more for the same work. These realizations leads women to band together in groups which, naturally, leads women en masse to choose to turn to lesbianism as a ‘life-style.’ In turn, the traditional family begins to disappear and the general morality of society breaks down, creating perfect conditions for the Prince of Darkness to swoop in and capture the souls of Canada’s unsuspecting population. Thus we can establish that there is a direct causal link between NDP policy and Satan’s reign on earth. If affordable childcare can have this devastating effect on society, imagine what could happen if we had guaranteed income for seniors, insured that anyone who needed medication could get it, demanded that corporations be more responsible for their actions, created more stringent environmental regulations, and finally ensured that the people of the First Nations had clean drinking water! Satan would have a field-day!

Don't forget the Tory history

Two hundred years ago Stephen Harper would have been the type of man who opposed the abolition of slavery on the grounds that it would have hurt British enterprise in the Caribbean. (A prime reason given against men like William Wilberforce and John Clarkson by Tories that abolitionist efforts were misguided.)

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!