A blog to give a voice to our concern about the continued erosion of our democratic processes not only within the House of Commons and within our electoral system but also throughout our society. Here you will find articles about the current problems within our parliamentary democracy, about actions both good and bad by our elected representatives, about possible solutions, opinions and debate about the state of democracy in Canada, and about our roles/responsibilities as democratic citizens. We invite your thoughtful and polite comments upon our posts and ask those who wish to post longer articles or share ideas on this subject to submit them for inclusion as a guest post.
Contact us at democracyunderfire@gmail.com

Sunday, April 7, 2013

An exercise in futility?

I am increasingly coming to the conclusion that my efforts in these pages to shed some light upon the various attacks upon our democracy, the ever increasing centralization of power in the hands of a few, our right to details of government spending and decisions, and our right to express our opinion upon those decisions both publicly and at the voting booth is an exercise in futility. I am fairly certain that the majority of those that read this blog are already well aware of such antidemocratic moves by governments and whilst the Harper Regime leads in such malfeasance it is by no means limited to the federal government, both provincial and municipal governments across the country are following their lead. Those that are not are probably beyond redemption. The attitude from many in a position of power seems to be 'if Harper can get away with so can we' , and many are 'bending' the rules on conflict of interest, public disclosure, the use of public funds and many other such things that used to be rare occurrences but now are 'the new normal'. There always has been, and always will be, those who abuse power but it now seems that be it federal, provincial or municipal politics the daily news contains a fresh 'allegation' of the abuse of power. Its outrageous, antidemocratic, and very very depressing for those of us that are taking any notice.

There will come a time for each of these governing bodies when the public will be given an opportunity to select new citizens to repression us in the various institutions but will those who are privileged to make such choices even bother, will they have the information to make informed choices, will the voting process be free of attempts to manipulate the vote? I think not.

Will those with the most money and thus the most 'advertising' budget fill the airwaves with stories about how good they are and how bad the other guy is, will such media overload contain little but personal attacks on the other guy and promises that will not be kept? There is no doubt about it.

Will any of them (apart from the Greens) make the reinstatement of honesty, integrity and democratic values a key part of their platform? I doubt it.

Will there in fact be anything worth salvaging on the federal scene in two more years, each piece of legislation jammed through the House removes more protection of our natural environment and resources, removes our ability to know about such actions and to be able to do anything about it should we object. Each day we see more and more power placed in the hands of a few, to the point where even those MPs who are members of the Harper caucus are starting to see that they are but pawns. They are perhaps the only ones who can stop the gradual slide towards dictatorship in the short term, but will they? They all seem to be in thrall with he of the smirk and glued on hair!

Here are a few of the recent items that I was going to write about but am too pissed off and depressed to find words to express my thoughts upon .....








Support Democracy - Recommend this Post at Progressive Bloggers

6 comments:

Owen Gray said...

I take some hope from the history of Quebec, where I grew up. Most people forget that the province used to be ruled by a tinpot dictator named Maurice Duplessis.

He and Stephen Harper were -- in many ways -- alike. But it may turn out that the man who was involved in deposing each dictator was a guy named Trudeau.

the salamander said...

More and more I feel that concerned, capable and coherent Canadians need to form a 'Shadow Government' and begin matching their common sense views, suggestions, beliefs and needs against the unwanted policies, dogma, deceit, legislation & actions of the 'captured' Harper Government. It should be obvious why the term 'captured' is being used.. and the term 'corporatist' should be included as well.

We have a prime minister, federal government and toxic political party, determined to assault Canada's environment, democracy and Canadians to pursue resource sell offs to China or any buyer, all to prop up the so-called Conservative party/government that is being directed and funded by foreign energy conglomerates.

I believe Canadians need to step up, fund and take over the ELA, Experimental Lakes Area, and make it blindingly clear that the recent Harper decision to close this world class resource was either malicious, incompetent or destructive.. and that we see the truth and the facts indicate the complete opposite.

Anonymous said...

I too am pissed off and depressed about what's going on in the country these days. But blogs like yours, Owen's and others help keep me sane.

They say the darkest hour is just before the dawn. The Canadian dawn may be a couple of years away, but I like to think that it will arrive.

Rural said...

The only thing that keeps me going with these pages is the thought that giving up in despair and sticking our heads in the sand is exactly what those with 'money and influence' to whom honesty and integrity are simply meaningless words want. That I see an increasing online cadre of those who simply will not permit these unprincipled oligarchs to hide all their secret dealings is encouraging, even if the revelations are not always easy to stomach!.

Ms. M said...

Yes to all comments! Rural - don't give up your important work. I might not say much, but I read and I talk to my kids and I talk to anyone I can when I get a chance...it surely must be the darkness before the dawn - even the old conservative cavalry has got to start seeing the mess Harper is creating for us. Without our democracy, we are nothing.

thwap said...

I know what you mean.

It does seem pointless.

But, since I found that I missed new stuff from my blogroll readings, others must feel the same about my lack of new stuff.

And it does help keep us sane.

Let's work in the 3-d realm too then.