p2pnet news view | P2P | Politics:- I’m Liz Newton, Jon’s wife. He and I have had many a conversation about the upcoming elections over the last few weeks and he keeps asking me to make a contribution.

So here it is.

I moved from a socialist Eastern European state in my mid-teens and because my parents never voted, I didn’t acquired the habit from them nor, in the past, have Canadian politics stirred me to get involved. Although I’ve been more sympathetic towards the Liberals in all these years, I’ve been content to let the rest of the electorate decide which of the two dominant parties would get a swing at the bat.

I should also say the whole political process in this age disenchants me and the reason is: I believe in democracy, but I think it’s a model of government which works better in smaller social units, such as Greek city states or Switzerland’s canton system.

For one thing, I’m of the belief that because of the high cost of getting elected, by the time a politician has risen to prominence on the national level, he/she has accumulated so much in the way of obligations that he/she is a “bought man/woman”.

So if you’re like me and vote because of a party’s ideology, you also have to think about all the parasites you install along with your chosen politician.

However, this year I’m motivated, like Jon, because I don’t want to see the Conservatives get a majority; and, I’d prefer a minority government with another party in power.

‘Poached a sitting member’

I’ve distrusted Stephen Harper ever since he campaigned in the last election mainly on the idea of being a different kind of politician.

He tore into the sponsorship-scandal tainted Liberal Party of the time, with the implication that he’d offer a purer, more transparent kind of governance.

With reference to what I said above, I was deeply skeptical. He derided the Liberals for making a deal with Belinda Stronach during the election and as soon as he got into government, he poached a sitting member of the Liberal Party, David Anderson. On behalf of all of Mr Anderson’s constituents, I was deeply outraged.

His latest swindle is dissolving parliament to call this election.

To quote Britain’s The Economist, “Having championed legislation last year to fix election dates at four-year intervals, thus curtailing the ability of future governments to call a vote when victory seemed most assured, Mr Harper is now about to ignore his own law and announce a general election …”

I think the most despicable politician is the one who tries to tell you that in this day and age he can be honest and trustworthy in the good, old fashioned sense. So one key reason I want to boot out the Conservatives is: I’m tired of having a liar and a cheat as my head of state.

But also, you may have gathered by now that I’m an ideas type of person and the Conservative agenda of steady at the helm governance is hardly inspiring.

I wasn’t very impressed with their economic agenda and for one thing, the reduction in the GST didn’t thrill me. I’m not a consumer anyway and besides, unless you’re buying a big ticket item like a house or an expensive car, it doesn’t really make much difference in day-to-day life. The other way of looking at that reduction is the loss of revenue impacts on the amount of money the government can put toward funding things like education and health care.

And if you’re getting more and more conscious of mankind’s impact on the environment, Harper’s Conservatives with their ties to Alberta and its oil driven business sector are very worrisome.

‘Crisis management is by nature not proactive’

To veer off topic, I’m sure the Conservatives are happy the economic crisis has pushed the climate change and environmental issues to the back burner and no doubt they think their “we’ve got the economy under control” message is playing well with an electorate worried about mortgages and job security.

However, I’ve yet to hear them thank the previous Liberal regime for restoring Canada’s finances to a more positive level after the Mulroney Conservatives ran our country into debt. If they had had to deal with that mess they may not have been able to coddle us with tax cuts and the like. So their track record so far gives me no clue as to how they would really deal with the current financial crisis.

To pretend that in financial and economic terms they can carry on as before is another lie.

To finish off this rant, I think we as a country need to choose a government which offers us real ideas that can energize us and I think the environment is the one issue which had grabbed the attention of the electorate before the financial meltdown intervened.

As for that, neither Harper nor any other leader can do anything specific because of its global reach. They can only deal with various effects it has on our countly.

Crisis management is by nature not proactive but reactive.

To be proactive about greed and financial risk, every voter should look at his/her own actions first: consume only what you really need, don’t let yourself get sucked in by promises of easy profit and easy money.

The world has always been cyclical. Famines, wars, financial bubbles and the like have reset societies time and again and our age is the only one which has come to believe every day on our lives should be bright and comfortable.

In a time of crisis, financial and environmental, don’t vote for the guy with the little ideas.

The True North Strong and Free is a wonderfully stirring and nostalgic idea of our country.

But it’s not really on the point as the title of a party platform in the Internet age.

Liz Newton

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This entry was posted on Thursday, October 9th, 2008 at 3:14 pm and is filed under P2P, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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