Well here we are again facing yet another election and, in my opinion, another Minority Government.
At least I hope so…..
Frankly I don’t trust any of the current major Political Parties to do their jobs without close supervision right now. The best way to ensure there is close supervision is to have a Minority Government.
The reason that I feel this is way is that my biggest election concern in recent years has been Government, State, and Corporate Ethics.
I have seen way to many incidents of patronage, corruption, and abuse of power in recent years and at all levels of government and the state as well as in the corporate world.
In addition, these incidents are just the ones that we know about because they got exposed and the government, etc. wasn’t able to cover them up. Another all too common practice that is occurring these days.
I’m sure there are many more that haven’t seen the light of day.
These incidents which have occurred, have done so at all levels of government and span party lines.
This is a sad indication that corruption, patronage, and abuse of power are an accepted norm in Canada. To blame this on one party alone simply doesn't wash.
In fact, I’d go as far as to say that Canada fares no better than any Third World country where corruption, patronage and abuse of power are concerned. Canada is just not as open about it; is very good at covering it’s tracks; and quite exceptional at maintaining the myth that we have ethical standards here.
The stark reality tells a very different story, a very ugly story, and one which demonstrates that Canada does not operate on ethical standards of any kind, in any shape or form.
Canada’s great at pretending it does though and like I said, exceptionally good at maintaining the myth.
Canada maintains the myth by deflection.
The argument basically goes like this:
“Canada is good because the US is bad".
In formal Argumentation this is a form of the Ad Hominem fallacy, a demagogic argument, and fails on those grounds alone, never mind the numerous other deceptions inherent in that claim.
An argument has to be able to stand on it’s own merits, so anyone who wants to make the claim that “Canada is good” has to be able to first define “good” and then list the specifics to support that claim independent of irrelevancies like comparing us to the US. This is what can't be done. There are no merits in reality to the claim that "Canada is good".
So, frankly, I find this Canadian self-righteousness towards the United States quite amusing.
At least the Americans have extremely strong laws in place to protect against corruption, patronage and abuse of power. Sure Canada has laws against this too. Wishy washy ones. Not to mention the fact that they are never, ever enforced. This fact is what really says it all.
The Americans, on the other hand, not only have strong laws but have been known to enforce their laws to the highest levels of government up to and including the President. Remember Nixon?
Can we say the same about Canada? No.
In fact, I challenge anyone to provide me with a single example of a conviction occurring as a result of a politician or civil servant engaging in corruption, patronage, or abuse of power in Canada.
Let’s include corporate corruption and criminal acts committed by the wealthy elite in this as well since government and corporate corruption, as well as corruption in the wealthy elite are usually bedfellows.
Can anyone out there provide me with one single example of a government politician, civil servant (including police, military and intelligence), or corporate officer/owner, or a member of Canada's wealthy elite, who has been charged with a criminal offense and convicted.
It has to have:
- occurred in Canada
- been the result of a criminal act, corruption, patronage or abuse of power
- involved the top level person or a member of the wealthy elite responsible (no examples of scapegoats please)
- occurred in the course of performing their duties, or in the case of wealthy elite, any crime will do. (Russell Williams doesn't count because he wasn't a member of the wealthy elite and he didn't commit his crimes in the course of performing his duties).
Yes, one can criticize the Americans on the grounds that they don’t always enforce those laws, and as a result a great deal of corruption, patronage and abuse of power still goes on.
However, for Canada and Canadians to be the ones to do it demonstrates a typically self-righteous and smug hypocrisy given the fact that we have a far worse record than the Americans.
As a result, I don’t care who wins the Canadian 2011 Federal Elections anymore.
I just want another Minority Government so that the incentive exists for the parties to continue to self-righteously and smugly watch-dog each other. 
Since my daughter threatened to ex-communicate me because I changed my support from Liberal to Conservative, maybe I’ll support the NDP this time or go back to supporting the Liberals. There's always the Green Party.
Then again, I’m not sure the Conservatives have really been that bad….
My daughter is a typical Canadian and too wishy washy to actually go through with ex-communicating me.
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