What the Hell Happened Yesterday?

I hate politics as much as the next guy, but am drawn to it like a moth to a Konk. Sometimes you just gotta scream despite having no mouth.

Simple, elegant, discrete... OW! Goddamit!

Ignatieff is a politician for another age... one in which people read books and TV hasn't become a mainstream thing yet. Isaac was saying last night he's hoping Iggy abandons politics and goes back to writing books. Probably the best thing he can do right now.

There are Conservative voters who voted on the abortion issue, even though it's never going to be open for debate on the Hill again. Harper will NOT touch that with someone else's ten-foot poll (misspelling intended), so don't pretend he will. He might not believe in a woman's right to choose, but he's not prepared to risk his government on it. No career politician is.

I also believe that an unleashed autocrat can do a lot of good for his country in the short term through weakening democratic institutions, but at the long-term risk of throwing open a door for a psychopath to follow. That's an awkward and heavy way to put it, and I'm sorry for saying "psychopath." I just want to illustrate the fact that - whatever the intention - erosion of our democratic institutions (Parliament, for instance) is dangerous and stupid.

I'm also concerned that that Tar Sands will now become even more of a laissez faire, toxic, foreign-run mess; that billions of dollars will be wasted on super-prisons for criminals who don't apparently exist yet or short-range fighter jets that don't have engines (or the aircraft carriers that will allow them to operate effectively); that childless women, aboriginals and homosexuals will be treated as second-class citizens; that health care will go further down the toilet (not just availability, but with a focus on disease management instead of health).

I have no right to complain. I'm a straight white guy with limited disabilities and a bright future if I want it. And to be fair, these things would probably happen with or without a Conservative majority... except maybe the jets and the bit about women, natives and LGBT's. I'm a little over-saturated with exposure to "media," but I'm a smart guy who tries to keep it balanced with optimism, exercise and occasional silence.

Maybe not this calm, but you know... moderation and all that.

My main worry here is that we've just handed a blank cheque over to a guy who thinks that if you subscribe to a certain way of living and looking at the world, that entitles you to favorable fortunes; if you diverge from that way, God and the government will abandon you. This is the sort of thing that you hear from rich Christian fundamentalists - that wealth is a sign of God's favor, and that the poor somehow deserve it.

Kinda like this guy. Remember him?

It's only a minor intuition, but I often feel like Harper is getting us ready for assimilation into the USA... And whether the political landscape there is dominated by jackasses or elephants, I want no part of it. Canadian politics can be embarrassing enough without the disease of polarization that has infected America to its bone marrow. Harper has relied on the same kinds of divisive tactics and rhetoric - taking credit where it is NOT due, vilifying opponents with dehumanizing epithets, and then there's this...

This comes complete with the American-style political gesture of accusing one's enemy of the very thing one is doing oneself. In other words, if you're a dog, call your opponent a worse kind of dog.

Project much?

This government is bent on turning Canada into the USA. Or Michigan at least.

And that's my rant for the day.

Is this our political future? Say it ain't so.