God damn the government
God damn the Liberal government for taking it upon themselves to demonstrate once again that if power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. Their monopoly has turned them into a gang of filthy bush-league cheaters and calculating back-room wheeler-dealers. They've been hawking an empty promise to save Canada for 2 decades now and they're nothing but a posse of scoundrels. May they be bathed in the stink and the shame of their collective rottenness until they abjectly apologize for turning this country into a joke.
I'm pretty pissed off at the small-l liberals too, even if I'm one of them. (I'm a member of the Green party, if it matters.) While we scuff our toes in the dirt and grudgingly agree (without coming out and saying it of course) to noble, but pragmatically minor issues like gay marriage and legalizing marijuana, conservatives of all stripes have a field day. Meanwhile, down goes the environment, the social safety net, and so much of what we hold dear, it's impossible to calculate it all. We have become a bunch of namby-pambies. Knee-jerk liberal isn't even the right term anymore- it's like our knees are so weak, they won't jerk at all.
Was there ever a rugged liberalism? If so I want a return to it, and if not, I want to invent it. I want the kind of tolerance that can punch its way out of a wet paper bag and into the face of the oppressor. I want somebody to rise to the occasion and show the paternalists that you can be a steward for the environment, a loving father to a gay child, an advocate for safe homes for women and good schools for kids, a friend to new Canadians and an unflappable guard against terror, a lover of the arts and all that is beautiful, while still keeping a firm hand on the tiller and singing in a full-throated baritone to the beat of a heart that will not stop pounding with reverence for life and the dignity of the human spirit.
Is that really too much to ask?
I'm pretty pissed off at the small-l liberals too, even if I'm one of them. (I'm a member of the Green party, if it matters.) While we scuff our toes in the dirt and grudgingly agree (without coming out and saying it of course) to noble, but pragmatically minor issues like gay marriage and legalizing marijuana, conservatives of all stripes have a field day. Meanwhile, down goes the environment, the social safety net, and so much of what we hold dear, it's impossible to calculate it all. We have become a bunch of namby-pambies. Knee-jerk liberal isn't even the right term anymore- it's like our knees are so weak, they won't jerk at all.
Was there ever a rugged liberalism? If so I want a return to it, and if not, I want to invent it. I want the kind of tolerance that can punch its way out of a wet paper bag and into the face of the oppressor. I want somebody to rise to the occasion and show the paternalists that you can be a steward for the environment, a loving father to a gay child, an advocate for safe homes for women and good schools for kids, a friend to new Canadians and an unflappable guard against terror, a lover of the arts and all that is beautiful, while still keeping a firm hand on the tiller and singing in a full-throated baritone to the beat of a heart that will not stop pounding with reverence for life and the dignity of the human spirit.
Is that really too much to ask?
Labels: Canada, democracy, government, liberal
posted by David Newland at 8.4.05
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