P Yes, a sad story, indeed! The Harper government may look like it’s wobbling as it takes blow after blow on this Senate expenses scandal, finally getting its comeuppance for its hypocrisy, corruption, hyper-partisan manipulations, assault of democratic process, and more. But behind the scenes, there’s no wobbling in the steely-eyed determination to deconstruct Canada and impose the Harperist corporate state. The Senate debacle, as shockingly all-consuming as it seems, is the lesser scandal, taking attention away from the truly serious stuff, and in that sense might even be useful to Harper as he pursues his big agenda. As the Senate disgrace and its links to the Prime Minister’s Office dominate the TV screens, a relentless wave of politicized control measures rolls over the CBC, the RCMP, the National Research Council and other federal agencies, pretty well without serious question. Meanwhile scientists and even such innocuous creatures as federal librarians are muzzled, environmental research is trashed, and environmental and foreign aid groups are cut and harassed. And, in this very week’s news: quietly, a measure goes through to make it easier for the seed giants to introduce genetically modified product; the employment insurance appeals tribunal is set up — made up to a large degree of Tory donors, failed candidates and the like who’ll make as much money as senators with the implied message: don’t bother appealing. Furthermore, according to the Toronto Star, the Tories have been nabbed using government IT to monitor the Facebook pages of activists. Add paranoia of Nixonian proportions to the brew. So what now? Thoughts of insurrection are said to be rife among those original Prairie MPs who thought it would all be about freedom, competence, transparency, participation and dignity, but are discovering that it’s mostly about control and corruption. And indeed a rebellion leading to the government falling and an election would be the proper way to deal with this. Excuse me for dreaming, but of course expecting the conservative conscience — a thin blue line indeed — to actually do something could be a long wait. But throwing the rascals out is more complicated than it used to be. Even if there were an election now — or when there is one in a couple of years — here’s the worst news: there’s no guarantee that the government would be defeated, even if it still was at 30 per cent or lower in the polls. You’ve heard the controversies over polls being wrong in B.C., Alberta and Quebec. The pollsters have taken a hit, but it’s not really about them. They’re reading the popular mood, but nearly half of voters don’t follow through on their opinions and vote. Thus our problem goes deeper. Nearly half of Canadians of voting age are failing to do their duty as citizens. This enfeebled democratic instinct creates the stagnant pool in which ideologues like Harper operate. As with his soul mate, Mayor Rob Ford of Toronto, on the right there’s always that 30 per cent of partisans who will forgive anything. They are mostly propaganda-created modern creatures hostile to the public good in the larger sense, which they have been told is a conspiracy of the media and “liberal elites.” The fact that they have been taught this by the funding of the money elites is beyond their understanding. We are not alone in this conundrum. In varying degrees, it’s a problem throughout the Western democracies, with those who do vote split among factions, leaving determined right-wing minorities with disproportionate electoral weight. We are dealing with more than a Senate scandal here. It’s the tip of an iceberg, and we’re heading toward a larger crisis of democracy than Mike Duffy at the trough. Stephen Harper need only do his usual business in his expertly casual tone — deny, blame others — and the affair will be in the rear-view mirror by the time Parliament returns in the fall. Only the toxic residue will remain. Can we do anything about this? Not if the citizen remains mute and benighted. I find, floating in my mind these days, the disturbingly famous observation of Irish poet W.B. Yeats from nearly 100 years ago: “The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.” thechronicleherald.ca/editorials/1132543-surette-the-real-harper-scandal-and-our-failure-as-citizens
Posted on: Tue, 04 Jun 2013 23:24:55 +0000
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