本文发表在 rolia.net 枫下论坛My first time as a Canadian voter was so . . . sad
How could my fellow citizens be gullible enough to follow such an undemocratic leader?
By Ethan Baron, The Province May 3, 2011 9:53 AM Comments (14)
I am disgusted to be a new Canadian. Although I felt considerable satisfaction when I cast my ballot Monday for the first time ever in a Canadian election, all pleasure at participating in my country's electoral process vanished in the face of the Tory majority.
I wish I could believe that vast numbers of Canadians support Prime Minister Stephen Harper because they're stupid.
I wish I could persuade myself that almost half of voters are so fantastically dim that they believed the contempt of Parliament finding against Harper's government was political manoeuvring instead of an attempt to impose accountability on an evasive authoritarian regime.
I would feel so much better if I could think that legions of Canadian morons believe shutting down Parliament for political purposes is OK because they don't understand what "proroguing" means but anything starting with "pro" must be good.
I want so badly to comfort myself with the thought that Canadians aren't outraged by the Harper government's unprecedented secrecy and muzzling of public servants because they're too dull-witted to understand that government transparency is crucial to democracy.
I wish I could believe the Canadian populace is so rife with idiots that Harper's proclamation that the Government of Canada is now the Stephen Harper Government was seen as creative branding rather than a minority party asserting absolute control over the nation.
I have just recently become a citizen, but I've lived in this country for almost 20 years, and I know Canadians are not stupid.
The actual explanation for the Conservative majority is more sinister than mere feeble-mindedness.
Canadians, in droves, turned up their noses at democracy, choosing a party that has attacked it at every turn.
These voters made their electoral decision with one hand holding their wallets and the other flailing around from their eyes to their ears, wilfully shutting out the endless evidence that it is the people, and not just Parliament, that Harper holds in contempt.
No, Canadians aren't stupid. But many, many of us are not that bright. Somehow these voters managed to convince themselves that a government that racked up the highest deficit in Canadian history -$55.6 billion in 2009-10 -is fiscally prudent.
Unaccountably, they persuaded themselves that putting far more people in prison is the most effective approach to crime, when we have to our south perhaps the world's best example of why that most expensive of solutions is no solution at all.
Perplexingly, these voters who value financial responsibility over all else have gullibly swallowed the Harper government's absurd lowball estimate of a $16-billion cost for 65 F-35 stealth fighter jets of questionable utility, in spite of estimates from the Parliamentary Budget Officer and other reliable sources that the cost will be nearly double that amount.
A Tory majority. Oh, Canada, you disappoint me so.
Read more: http://www.theprovince.com/news/decision-canada/first+time+Canadian+voter/4716356/story.html#ixzz1LKB98See更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net
How could my fellow citizens be gullible enough to follow such an undemocratic leader?
By Ethan Baron, The Province May 3, 2011 9:53 AM Comments (14)
I am disgusted to be a new Canadian. Although I felt considerable satisfaction when I cast my ballot Monday for the first time ever in a Canadian election, all pleasure at participating in my country's electoral process vanished in the face of the Tory majority.
I wish I could believe that vast numbers of Canadians support Prime Minister Stephen Harper because they're stupid.
I wish I could persuade myself that almost half of voters are so fantastically dim that they believed the contempt of Parliament finding against Harper's government was political manoeuvring instead of an attempt to impose accountability on an evasive authoritarian regime.
I would feel so much better if I could think that legions of Canadian morons believe shutting down Parliament for political purposes is OK because they don't understand what "proroguing" means but anything starting with "pro" must be good.
I want so badly to comfort myself with the thought that Canadians aren't outraged by the Harper government's unprecedented secrecy and muzzling of public servants because they're too dull-witted to understand that government transparency is crucial to democracy.
I wish I could believe the Canadian populace is so rife with idiots that Harper's proclamation that the Government of Canada is now the Stephen Harper Government was seen as creative branding rather than a minority party asserting absolute control over the nation.
I have just recently become a citizen, but I've lived in this country for almost 20 years, and I know Canadians are not stupid.
The actual explanation for the Conservative majority is more sinister than mere feeble-mindedness.
Canadians, in droves, turned up their noses at democracy, choosing a party that has attacked it at every turn.
These voters made their electoral decision with one hand holding their wallets and the other flailing around from their eyes to their ears, wilfully shutting out the endless evidence that it is the people, and not just Parliament, that Harper holds in contempt.
No, Canadians aren't stupid. But many, many of us are not that bright. Somehow these voters managed to convince themselves that a government that racked up the highest deficit in Canadian history -$55.6 billion in 2009-10 -is fiscally prudent.
Unaccountably, they persuaded themselves that putting far more people in prison is the most effective approach to crime, when we have to our south perhaps the world's best example of why that most expensive of solutions is no solution at all.
Perplexingly, these voters who value financial responsibility over all else have gullibly swallowed the Harper government's absurd lowball estimate of a $16-billion cost for 65 F-35 stealth fighter jets of questionable utility, in spite of estimates from the Parliamentary Budget Officer and other reliable sources that the cost will be nearly double that amount.
A Tory majority. Oh, Canada, you disappoint me so.
Read more: http://www.theprovince.com/news/decision-canada/first+time+Canadian+voter/4716356/story.html#ixzz1LKB98See更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net