Friday, April 1, 2011

Whither Democracy. . . . . ?

It is remarkable that we hava a Prime Minister who clearly lies, who is in contempt of Parliament, who has major alies and associates under clouds of investigation and indictment, who de facto will not answer questions from the media let alone average Canadians, who will not cost major program spending, who wants to spend Billions on totally unnecessary prisons, who is at the heart of a scandal to defraud the electoral system, and who prorogues parliament as a matter of course. This is indeed amazing.

Even more amazing, this guy is going up in the polls.

This confirms everything that I have thought is wrong with modern democracy in a context of international Capitalism. A huge percentage of people don't understand their own political system, their own constitution, the most basic implications of a wide variety of policies, the legal system, and even how Prime Ministers are elected.

In the face of this wide-ranging ignorance and remarkable naivety, what is one to make of democracy? How is one to advocate for democracy in a context in which people will elect corrupted criminals who are demonstrably against democracy itself? I remember as a kid I watched Nixon reelected with one of the largest majorities in history even after the Watergate break-in, and seeing my mother (who is by no means very political) wonder how people could be so stupid. It made a powerful impression upon me, but I am no closer to being able to answer her question today then I was then.

1 comment:

Dana said...

I wonder how the sheep that populate this benighted land will respond when the Harperites gut the Charter. I wonder if they'll approve of the federal government turning all responsibility for health care, including funding, over to the provinces. I wonder if the bleating will become louder then.

If the Harper government is the first in the history of Westminster style Parliaments to found in contempt of that Parliament what will it say about Canadians when we become the first people to re-elect a government found in contempt of Parliament.

What will it say about Parliament? Will Parliament have any role in governance at all any more?

I've been calling the Canadian people stupid for a couple of years now but it's very hard for me to get my mind around the fact that the Canadian people are actually this monumentally stupid.

I mean this is truly epic. This is stupider than George W. Bush's second election. We don't get to make fun of US politics anymore. Ours are just as fucked.

This country is fucked. Seriously fucked.

If you have the money and a transferable skill start the emigration process right now. Almost anywhere will be better than Canada soon enough.