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 .....
6 comments:
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.
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.
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.
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!.
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.
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.
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