Author Topic: Pepper Spray IS a vegetable!  (Read 24223 times)

Chenier

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Re: Pepper Spray IS a vegetable!
« Topic Start: November 24, 2011, 09:32:06 AM »
I trust that most politicians in Canada probably think they are doing the greater good. And that the vast majority of political candidates are convinced of it.

However, in systems like the states where there is no electoral spending cap, then my trust in said politicians lowers quite considerably. It can easily become more important to satisfy the people funding your campaign than the people you are supposed to work for. After all, even if you screw them over, you can still get them to vote for you with good ads. Or at least not make them vote for the other.

I also don't buy your notion that all solutions must be publicly loathed by all parties in order to only be reached by hidden compromise. Fixing a few root problems by causing a wide array of other ones could have been better delt by simply being gutsy and doing the right thing to begin with. Many governments get themselves elected by promising measures that are generally considered unpopular, after all. Nor do I, from the little I know, consider that "compromise" to be a good deal: even many of US' richest were saying: "tax us more!", and there's none of that. It's trading one half of the solution for the other half, doesn't bring anyone anywhere.

As for bankruptcy being bad... As any economic event, nothing bad for everyone. At least, in their head. There are plenty of people around that believe that the government is evil incarnate, and while they may not wish it to completely fail, the temptation to push it to the edge in order to force it to cut it's spending could be of interest. The rich would then benefit from the lowered taxation, as they can pay for all the public services they lost anyways.

Furthermore, whenever I watch videos of parliament, what I see is nothing like what you describe, or how De-Legro seems to describe. Because unlike in the states where the ruling party doesn't have a majority in both chambers, in Canada the tories have a majority in both the lower and upper chambre, and in Québec the liberals have a majority in the lower chamber (got rid of the useless upper chambre). Both parties have a majority that allows them to do whatever the hell they want, be damned the public opinion and the opposition's stances.

Yet, we see the exact same kind of partisanry in there than we hear about in the states, where they lack any power whatsoever to influence government policy. They bicker, they oppose just to oppose, they accuse the government of doing things they do or did themselves, and basically just try to make it sound as if they have the perfect solutions and that the government is bringing ruin to everyone (though it's true).

Just as the republicans are doing. Except that since they have the power to actually block the project, then it's all really a cunning plan of compromise by well-intended do-gooders who want to save people from their misguided selves? I have a hard time believing that.
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