That's something important to remember when some harpercon hack tells you about how much their glorious leader tried to avoid this election, but "The Coalition" wanted it.
Whatever I have said about the Liberal Party of Canada, ... hell, whatever my thoughts on the integrity and consistency of ANY party or the Canadian electorate, ... I believe that the motivations to force this election were noble ones.
harper acted in contempt of Parliament when he had a minority government. How else could any self-respecting parliamentarian be expected to respond?
This election is a battle to save Canadian democracy. Nothing less.
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This is a Battle. Between right and wrong. Simple. But not so simple, because Canadians will once again let this monster get a Majority. Why?
I hope you're wrong Anonymous. I'm trying to hold out hope on Canadians coming to their senses.
hi Thwap...well said. The opposition did do the right and honorable thing, and history will record it as such, no matter what the outcome.
Now it's up to us to organize, get out the vote, and save our democracy...
I don't think harper can get a majority. I never did, and given his stumbling and his stupidity, i'm certain of it.
A lot of Canadians, at least non-"conservative" ones, are determined to stop harper. What the NDP and Liberals need to do is to not confuse people about who they should vote for to defeat harper.
And i think the opposition parties should make a lot of noise about how they put themselves on the hustings even though they were behind in the polls because they could not support a government that just displayed glaring contempt for Parliament.
Drawing attention to their selflessness in this matter would help to focus other voters' attentions and sympathies.
Perhaps in the debate, they could take apart the bully on the national stage. Reduce him to tears.
Unfortunately once the debate begins the NDP will be attacking the Liberals more than they will the Harperites.
After all, the Liberals are really the ones attacking democracy doncha know?
http://actsofcitizenship.blogspot.com/2010/02/real-assault-on-democracy.html
Dana,
I read that post earlier today. I thought it was a little weak, all things considered.
At the same time, I'm more than prepared to slag the Liberals for what they are. I do that all the time.
But in this election, the anti-harperites have to get their act together.
"But in this election, the anti-harperites have to get their act together."
I'm not sure how long you've been paying attention to blogs and blogging but I've been saying that since '06. It was almost immediately clear what the damage was going to be even with a minority. I was attacked relentlessly and often quite viciously by people with extensive vocabularies and good grammar who spell everything right. For months. I gave up blogging.
I don't believe it will happen now either. The partisan toxins are just too deeply into the system now. The blinders are second nature. (What's a meta for?:-)
Nice dream though.
Dana:
Yes, I remember that happening to you too. Remember how I had to be a Liberal paid operative because I dared place stopping Harper as the most important and urgent mission for anyone that dared to consider themselves a liberal progressive Canadian? How I said it was far less corrosive to democracy to leave a tired corrupt Liberal government under Martin in place (especially as a minority which the NDP could actually influence) than it was to allow for even a minority Harper government?
You and I both Dana took it on the chin from the partisans (especially many Dipper ones) that still claimed Liberal Tory same old story had any resemblance to reality with the Harper CPC despite the already accumulating evidence to the contrary. That the Libs were the real threat to the Canadian way of life, and that even having to live under a few years of a Harper government would be better than that. Like you I still see far too much of that sentiment out there even now, and while I would love to believe in Thwap's view that this time will be different I like you will only believe it after I've seen it because experience has taught me to do so.
Thwap:
I like your views on policy and democratic values, as I have said many times before, I just wish you could understand that I've never been a Liberal member or committed supporter but someone that has feared Harper for 20+ years and only looked for the most realistic ways to prevent his rise to power and failing that the most probable method of removing him from it. I'm very bitter about the Layton NDP in no small part because I expected the NDP to stop such a monster from ever getting to the PM's seat all of my life, and when they were most needed to do so they instead decided it was more important to team up with that monster to defeat their common electoral rival.
This is why I have such contempt for the idea that the NDP is any different from the Libs or CPC in terms of placing principles first, the actual record under Layton has shown otherwise, and it really frustrates me to see how that proud legacy of the NDP was so cheaply sold out and with so little outcry from within the party too. I've never been able to support the mindset of my party right or wrong, it was something that offended both the Liberal and Conservative wings of my family, each of whom had hoped I would align with their side because I had an interest in politics at a very early age.. I vote each election based on my local candidates, the national leaders, the issues involved, and the overall national context, the very definition of the swing Canadian centrist voter. Why it really hacked me off to get branded a Lib by so many was that I only supported the Libs as the vehicle to stop or replace Harper, you never saw me writing posts about how I like this or that Lib policy or leader, which if I was a real Lib partisan I would have been doing.
People like Dana and me saw this disaster coming, tried to warn everyone and got the treatment of Cassandra for it, and from some that we would normally have expected to be fellow travelers, which increased both of our cynicism. It becomes very hard not to feel a certain very bitter satisfaction in saying we told you so these days, at least for me, I took a LOT of abuse in the 2006 election for my views despite being very detailed in showing my work as to why I believed them.
Scotian,
My long reply to you was eaten by blogger.
I'm pretty fucking pissed-off that i didn't save before submitting.
If I don't get around to replying to you for a while, it's because of that.
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