- Joined
- Aug 30, 2007
- Messages
- 1,821
I think that most would agree that our Prime Minister`s move on the funding of political parties issue at this time was both opportunistic and ill-advised. But let`s also recognize that the governing party has a great advantage in this ill-advised system of tax support, as the amount of that support is determined by number of votes achieved in the last election - at $1.95 per vote. So Harper`s move, while it would certainly damage the opposition parties in the short term, it would also do more damage to his own party`s efforts to be re-elected next time around. It is completely un-democratic to permit a system whereby the incombent party has the cards stacked in its favour. And I for one have had my fill of that game.
If we are to take to its logical conclusion the concept that our political parties should be funded by taxpayers, regardless of their raison d’être, then if Hamas or the Tamil Tigers established political wings in Canada, should they then also be entitled to the support, no matter how little the amount, of our tax dollars? Just how inclusive and giving should we be? How far should we go in allowing the support of those who would subvert our national interests, or those of any of the peoples who make up Canada? It is a slippery slope down that road. I`m no fan of Jean Chretien, but it was he who set out to remove support of special interest groups to our political parties. So let`s recognize that same concept should also apply to the Bloc. So if it is not acceptable to fund a Party not a friend of Canada with tax dollars, then by extension we cannot allow those tax dollars to support any party. To do otherwise would be to be choosing the winners and losers beforehand. The only sane method is to let individual Canadians to choose who to support. That is the essence of democracy, along with the universal right to vote.
We are not hearing of complaints from Americans that Barack Obama raised his election war chest from the grassroots and declined to take the tax dollars offered to him. What that did was to further legitimize his election. And that too is a fine example of democracy in action. The people voted with their money to support their candidate, and then they voted at the polls to elect him. And in doing that Obama and American citizens changed the democratic process in America for the better. Why cannot we have the same right and the same freedom to financially support and then to vote for those who would offer to govern us?
And why do we not have the same maturity and spirit of coming together that our American cousins do when they elect a President. Once the deed is done they get behind him and get on with the business of meeting their challenges and their opportunities, and most especially so when their nation is facing great challenges. America, love her or hate her, will rise again from the ashes of her self-inflicted miseries. She continues to grow and evolve to a better more perfect union. And we, once again, will endure the petty and irresponsible arguements and power grabs of our elected ones, one and all. While we continue our march to a less perfect union, squander our future, and do no honour to our fathers and grandfathers who fought for the freedoms we don`t have the courage to fight for ourselves.
I am an immensely proud Canadian, but one who is increasingly frustrated by our unwillingness to reach for something higher, to be more than we are, more than the sum of our numbers. And while we fiddle and fuss over inanities, we lose our future. It seems such a shame that far too often our best and brightest emigrate in to the USA, and we do so in the millions. The last great wave occurred when we destroyed our once world leading aerospace industry in the early 1960`s. Even then there were over 1 million Canadian expatriats living and working in California. This from our nation of only 25 million citizens then. We drive our own away by our lack of courage to finish our job of nation building. Think of what we have lost by not having the benefit of their skills and labours.
So after we wake up and recognize our failure to live up to our potential to be to be the best example of what a nation and a people should be, let`s have the courage to demand that our politicians offer their service to Canada, and to her service first and above all else.
If we are to take to its logical conclusion the concept that our political parties should be funded by taxpayers, regardless of their raison d’être, then if Hamas or the Tamil Tigers established political wings in Canada, should they then also be entitled to the support, no matter how little the amount, of our tax dollars? Just how inclusive and giving should we be? How far should we go in allowing the support of those who would subvert our national interests, or those of any of the peoples who make up Canada? It is a slippery slope down that road. I`m no fan of Jean Chretien, but it was he who set out to remove support of special interest groups to our political parties. So let`s recognize that same concept should also apply to the Bloc. So if it is not acceptable to fund a Party not a friend of Canada with tax dollars, then by extension we cannot allow those tax dollars to support any party. To do otherwise would be to be choosing the winners and losers beforehand. The only sane method is to let individual Canadians to choose who to support. That is the essence of democracy, along with the universal right to vote.
We are not hearing of complaints from Americans that Barack Obama raised his election war chest from the grassroots and declined to take the tax dollars offered to him. What that did was to further legitimize his election. And that too is a fine example of democracy in action. The people voted with their money to support their candidate, and then they voted at the polls to elect him. And in doing that Obama and American citizens changed the democratic process in America for the better. Why cannot we have the same right and the same freedom to financially support and then to vote for those who would offer to govern us?
And why do we not have the same maturity and spirit of coming together that our American cousins do when they elect a President. Once the deed is done they get behind him and get on with the business of meeting their challenges and their opportunities, and most especially so when their nation is facing great challenges. America, love her or hate her, will rise again from the ashes of her self-inflicted miseries. She continues to grow and evolve to a better more perfect union. And we, once again, will endure the petty and irresponsible arguements and power grabs of our elected ones, one and all. While we continue our march to a less perfect union, squander our future, and do no honour to our fathers and grandfathers who fought for the freedoms we don`t have the courage to fight for ourselves.
I am an immensely proud Canadian, but one who is increasingly frustrated by our unwillingness to reach for something higher, to be more than we are, more than the sum of our numbers. And while we fiddle and fuss over inanities, we lose our future. It seems such a shame that far too often our best and brightest emigrate in to the USA, and we do so in the millions. The last great wave occurred when we destroyed our once world leading aerospace industry in the early 1960`s. Even then there were over 1 million Canadian expatriats living and working in California. This from our nation of only 25 million citizens then. We drive our own away by our lack of courage to finish our job of nation building. Think of what we have lost by not having the benefit of their skills and labours.
So after we wake up and recognize our failure to live up to our potential to be to be the best example of what a nation and a people should be, let`s have the courage to demand that our politicians offer their service to Canada, and to her service first and above all else.
