![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ed_rexOn Thursday, Canada's (brand-new) government presented an economic update to the House — not quite a Budget, but something close to it, or such it is in normal times — it is with no little amount of schadenfreude that I watch Stephen Harper's ill-timed revelation of his true colours quite possibly put paid to his political career.
For those of you who haven't been paying attention or who aren't Canadian, in a nutshell, Thursday's document bore the mark of a bully and a thug and little else. Though in the midst of a what seems to be universally regarded as the gravest crisis to confront Capitalism since 1929, the Conservatives saw an opportunity — not to prime the economic pump, nor to rally Canadians 'round their government in dangerous times, but to practice some (very) petty political one-up-manship.
And so, within days, the Liberals, the NDP and the Bloc Quebecois have let the Governor General know that, should the current government fall, there is another waiting in the wings — with Stephane Dion as Prime Minister, no less!
Political drama doesn't get much better than this, not outside of Italy, anyway.
You all know (or else you haven't been paying attention; shame on you!) that I loathe the Harper Tories. I believe they are neo-con ideologues of the worst stripe, who despise the very idea of government beyond funding the army, jails and the police, and so I won't pretend to be anything but giddy at the prospect of seeing them defeated, but ...
But the Liberals and NDP are playing a dangerous game. While the truth is the Conservatives' neo-con base is small and divided, split as it is between an unholy (and senseless) alliance between social and economic "conservatives", and that the general support behind the Liberals, NDP and Bloc can be (loosely) qualified as (small-L) "liberal", the fact remains that the Bloc are separatists and the destruction of this country is always at the base of its raison d'etre.
As Churchill famously said something to the effect that he would deal with the Devil himself in order to defeat Hitler, when questioned on making an alliance with Stalin, so might the Liberals and NDP justify sharing a bed-spread with Gilles Duceppes, and i support them for doing so.
But I hope the hell they're going to be careful.
If this coalition actually takes power, I see two likely outcomes.
The first would see a reasonably competent (or better!) government preside over the next couple of years, sooner or later brought down by a Bloc Québecois that sees it's political raison d'etre slipping away because of that competence. If the BQ is smart (and lucky), they'll have some kind of symbolic issue to take to the polls on their tedious quest for a "flag sur le hood du Cadillac".
The second would see Liberal infighting destroying the government within months, leading to god only knows what sort of electoral outcome.
But whatever happens, we can take much comfort in the knowledge that Stephen Harper will be walking from the fray, a historical footnote and little more.
For those of you who haven't been paying attention or who aren't Canadian, in a nutshell, Thursday's document bore the mark of a bully and a thug and little else. Though in the midst of a what seems to be universally regarded as the gravest crisis to confront Capitalism since 1929, the Conservatives saw an opportunity — not to prime the economic pump, nor to rally Canadians 'round their government in dangerous times, but to practice some (very) petty political one-up-manship.
- Taking away the right to strike from public servants? Check.
- Removing public funding to political parties based on the number of votes received ($1.95 per vote)? Check.
- A promise to sell off (unspecified) government assets in order to "balance" the budget and no matter that this would mean selling at or near the bottom of the market? Er, check again.
- Specific plans for dealing with the oncoming storm? Er, no exactly. Not as such. Well. No.
And so, within days, the Liberals, the NDP and the Bloc Quebecois have let the Governor General know that, should the current government fall, there is another waiting in the wings — with Stephane Dion as Prime Minister, no less!
Political drama doesn't get much better than this, not outside of Italy, anyway.
You all know (or else you haven't been paying attention; shame on you!) that I loathe the Harper Tories. I believe they are neo-con ideologues of the worst stripe, who despise the very idea of government beyond funding the army, jails and the police, and so I won't pretend to be anything but giddy at the prospect of seeing them defeated, but ...
But the Liberals and NDP are playing a dangerous game. While the truth is the Conservatives' neo-con base is small and divided, split as it is between an unholy (and senseless) alliance between social and economic "conservatives", and that the general support behind the Liberals, NDP and Bloc can be (loosely) qualified as (small-L) "liberal", the fact remains that the Bloc are separatists and the destruction of this country is always at the base of its raison d'etre.
As Churchill famously said something to the effect that he would deal with the Devil himself in order to defeat Hitler, when questioned on making an alliance with Stalin, so might the Liberals and NDP justify sharing a bed-spread with Gilles Duceppes, and i support them for doing so.
But I hope the hell they're going to be careful.
If this coalition actually takes power, I see two likely outcomes.
The first would see a reasonably competent (or better!) government preside over the next couple of years, sooner or later brought down by a Bloc Québecois that sees it's political raison d'etre slipping away because of that competence. If the BQ is smart (and lucky), they'll have some kind of symbolic issue to take to the polls on their tedious quest for a "flag sur le hood du Cadillac".
The second would see Liberal infighting destroying the government within months, leading to god only knows what sort of electoral outcome.
But whatever happens, we can take much comfort in the knowledge that Stephen Harper will be walking from the fray, a historical footnote and little more.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2008-12-02 05:05 am (UTC)You are essentially advocating that the ends justify the means. You believe your end of whatever social agenda you subscribe to is justified by any means available and you are willing to overlook any hypocrisy or inequity to achieve it. At the root of that belief can only be that you believe your end is somehow more valuable, more just, more true, more noble or any number of descriptors used in the past to justify why a minority opinion supercedes a majority one: that you secretly know better, are more equal, more right, more altruistic and your halo more shiny, so that you deserve more weight in what is essentially a right of individuals, if all individuals are equal, to self-determination.
Personally, if the NDP or god help us the Green party had won, I would have hated it, and I also would argue that I am smarter than the people who voted for them, yet I would never seek the moral authority to advocate removing them on the more fundamental grounds that I believe all people are essentially equal and have a right to determine their own future en masse.
Going to stop you right there...
Date: 2008-12-02 10:22 am (UTC)I respect your opinion and believe you have a right to argue for whatever form of government that you seem fit or just.
What I don't respect or appreciate it is telling me what I believe.
"You believe your end of whatever social agenda you subscribe to is justified by any means available and you are willing to overlook any hypocrisy or inequity to achieve it. At the root of that belief can only be that you believe your end is somehow more valuable, more just, more true, more noble or any number of descriptors used in the past to justify why a minority opinion supercedes a majority one: that you secretly know better, are more equal, more right, more altruistic and your halo more shiny, so that you deserve more weight in what is essentially a right of individuals, if all individuals are equal, to self-determination."
I had know idea you somehow had insight into my mind that only I posses. Read between the lines if you will, but I have not explicitly stated what I believe in any of these posts regarding the situation. I only commented on what I observed in recent political news casts. Never once did I advocate for one outcome over the other.
I think I have done enough debating in Geoff's journal for the time being. Thanks for both your and Geoff's time.
I'll let you get back to not following the Canadian political scene.