Uncivil Discourse

So we've had the debates in Canada's sham election, and we're a little over a week away from voting. The last time I had checked, while Harper still has a lead, there's been a drop in confidence, given the very rough time our economy is having right now. So I'm really hoping and praying that things are turning against him. That's right, I'm a public figure, and I have an opinion on how the world works. Live with it.

Things were rough for Harper in the French debates, right away; one of many reasons why the man is called a clone of George W. Bush is because they share the same hands-off attitude about the economy. Basically, their approaches are to ignore what goes on in the world until the corporations cry for more money, at which point Harper or whoever cuts taxes for those who have plenty of cash to spare, but ignores people who have to find three jobs just to get decent groceries. Let's not forget, it's because of this sort of "wait and see" mentality that the stock markets around the world nearly collapsed twice this week. I should also point out that historically the worse economic times in history have been supervised by right-wing governments.

What really got to me, though, was Harper's stance that various inspection agencies should be deregulated and privatized -- in other words, the work done by companies only interested in how much money they make. This is after ample proof that this policy has killed people; one need only look at Walkerton's tainted water problem, or the recent listeria/tainted meat outbreak, or the propane explosion in Toronto, to see how seriously corporate inspectors take their jobs. In fact, the Canadian Medical Association Journal recently attacked Harper over this policy. Guess what his reply was? He blamed it on some sort of conspiracy by the Liberal party.

This is typical, not only of Harper but of anyone I've seen support him. They blame everyone else for getting on partisan high horses, but whenever someone disagrees with the Tories they are branded as left-wing extremists, and often Ottawa tries to silence them altogether. Don't forget, this is the only Prime Minister in recent memory who tells the press what questions they are allowed to ask him, and has seen to it that progressive artists can't afford to spread their views in public. And believe me, if you take complaints to the party itself, they will either ignore you completely, or just treat you like you don't matter. And don't even get me started on some of these psychotic assholes speaking for them in forums -- I've actually seen people say they hope I get kicked out of the country, just because I don't agree with them, and call me a liar because I mention events that are reported in every single newspaper in Canada.

Sure enough, when Harper had his rematch in the English debates, all he did was deny that there is an economic problem -- despite rather clear evidence to the contrary -- and call his opponents useless. His entire strategy thus far has been to say that I'm right, you're wrong, and that's that. So I don't buy this "strong leader" bullshit that's in the Tory propaganda. His attitude says exactly this: "You're either with us, or against us." Where else have we heard that lately? Enough said.