v***@aol.com
2006-01-23 15:30:57 UTC
The new Conservative Party of Canada's inclination is toward classic
"Leave-it-to-Beaver",
1950s-style American Republican party ideals.
The old pragmatic, practical, centrist Progressive Conservative Party
of Canada which
sought a multilateral foreign policy, moderate tax cuts, protection for
minority rights,
and values which quite often overlapped with the Liberals and NDP. Once
past the petty posturing, there was little significant difference
between the old Progressive Conservative Party of Canada under Joe
Clark and Brian Mulroney, the Liberals, and the NDP of what
constituted the common good of all Canadians.
That is how John Diefenbaker's Progressive Conservative Party of Canada
opposed
the nuclear armament of the United States of America, how Brian
Mulroney's Progressive
Conservative Party of Canada enforced the Liberal's Canada Health Act,
in itself born
of an NDP grand vision; or even how the current governing Liberals
adopted the deficit-slashing of the old Progressive Conservative Party
of Canada, resulting in eight consecutive
balanced budgets.
Yet the old Progressive Conservative Party of Canada no longer exists.
And in this watershed election, it is increasingly clear that the
policies, programs and values of the new Conservative Party of Canada,
which is more or less the old Reform Party/Canadian Alliance which has
been renamed and rebranded, has much more in common with the
perspectivr of the extreme right-wing, selfish, social darwinist,
unilateralist, fundementalist controlled, racist, sexist, bigoted,
homophobic American Republican Party of George W. Bush, which
is hated, reviled, detested by tens of millions of Americans and
perhaps billions of people worldwide for its arrogent, cocky,
deceitful, imperialist, hegemonic global interferences, double
standards, and domination agenda.
The new Conservative Party of Canada just like the former Reform
Party/Canadian Alliance, of which it has simply been renamed and
rebranded, also tends to follow an even older American Republicanism on
social issues, like the 1950's presidency of Dwight Eisenhower.
That racist, sexist, bigoted, homophobic, misogynistic, patriarchal
American style Republicanism with the husband-wife-children living in
an all White suburb where the Husband is the sole breadwinner and boss
of the family, where the Wife stays home to cook and clean, and where
the Children where neckties to school; advocates a supposedly
well-ordered society based on the traditional family unit, which they
would have you believe begets a sound community, which they would have
you believe begets a sound nation.
In this view, family and community enabled self-reliance, individual
responsibility, faith, discipline, strong morality, and made possible a
smaller role for government in the everyday life of citizens. Of course
what both American Republican and Canadian Conservatives won't tell you
about this vision and the era which its rooted in, is that the era in
question contained things such as segregation, poverty, inequality,
illiteracy, spousal abuse, child abuse, corporal punishment,
institutional racism and sexism which made the running of families,
religious institutions, businesses, universities, hospitals, law
enforcement, and the military by and for the exclusive benefit of White
Men. Throughout history, many ordinary White Men all across Canada have
sought to fight against this unfair and quite often unearned allocation
of societal privileges and to improve the lives of their fellow
Canadians who as a result of being born as a woman, visible minority,
aboriginal or disabled were quite often denied equality of opportunity
in employment, education, ans housing. Many White Men including former
Progressive Conservative Party of Canada leader and Prime Minister Joe
Clark fought hard to bring about anti-discrimination measures and
equality of opportunity for women, visible minorities, aboriginals, and
peoples with disabilities. Other examples of this are former
Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario leaders and premiers John
Robarts and Bill Davis, who did a great deal of excellent work to bring
about equality, fairness, and human rights in areas such as employment,
education, and housing to their Province of Ontario.
Unfortunately, Stephen Harper is not one of these men.
This 1950's American Conservative vision which largely dominates the
crafting of social and economic policy within Stephen Harper's new
Conservative Party of Canada fails to accept the reality that women,
visible minorities, aboriginal people, and people with disabilities are
also citizens of Canada and also deserve an equal role in our nation.
Stephen Harper's new Conservative Party of Canada and its social and
economy policy largely reflects the handiwork of White Men who seem to
be trying to deny and perfect the racist, sexist, bigoted, homophobic
past and to accommodate the imperatives of their beloved bygone age
into the more complex and pluralistic reality of today's Canada, where
most women are in the workforce; where visible minorities make valuable
contributions to Canada's political, economic, and social life; where
aboriginals enrich our society and culture, and where we are truly a
nation of minorities woven together by a rich tapestry of different
genders, cultures, races, ethnicities, religions, beliefs, values, and
spoken languages. These socially regressive, backward, Neanderthals in
Stephen Harper's new Conservative Party of Canada would have such an
easier time implementing their racist, sexist, bigoted, homophobic
social and economic policies if Canada was still controlled by and for
the benefit of White Men.
The new Conservative Party of Canada makes its strongest appeal to
patriarchal and socially conservative currents in places such as rural
Alberta. The new Conservative Party of Canada offers very little for
Canadians who live in Ontario, Quebec, Atlantic Canada, Cities, or
those Canadians who are female, visible minority, aboriginal, disabled,
homeless, or who speak French.
Stephen Harper believes in the traditional family with no time or
patience for those who chose not to have children, those who live
together while they are unmarried, those who
love another person of the same gender, those who live lifestyles that
are different than that of a traditional family unit headed by a
patriarchal male. Seen through the twisted filter of classical American
Republicanism, Stephen Harper's economic and social policies make
eminent sense. He says he "hates all taxes" so it is logical for him to
cut the GST and remove money from vital social programs, or what he
would call "big government wants"
as opposed to "real citizen needs" (i.e, the needs of Stephen Harper
traditional family unit dominated by a patriarchal male, who is
preferable White and old fashioned).
Stephen Harper believes in punishment over rehabilitation for the
"wicked", and seeks sternet minimum sentences, even though these are
proven to be hugely expensive with no deterrent effect. Just look at
correctional facilities in the United States of America that are dirty,
overcrowded and controlled by roving violent gangs. The United States
of America has the highest incarceration rate of any other nation in
the Western World. The failed and bankrupted American "war on drugs" is
the main reason why millions of non-violent offenders are currently
locked up in American jails with a huge cost to the American taxpayer.
Once again though the American "war on drugs" is not based on an urgent
need to arrest drug dealers or those who have drug addictions in terms
of public safety, it is instead the old American "crime and punishment"
mentality born in the days of the Wild West with
the "frontier justice at high noon" ideals. The American Republican
Party's crime platform just like Stephen Harper's new Conservative
Party of Canada's crime platform is based largely not on a clear and
present need for harsher penalties on violent crime, but instead is
focused on "moral crimes" such as drug dealing and drug use. This is
but one of many examples of how American style Religious Fundamentalism
shapes and molds both the American Republican Party and the new
Conservative Party of Canada. I am quite sure if Stephen Harper's new
Conservative Party of Canada could wave a magic wand they would have
public whippings for blasphemy, stoning to death for adultery, and
severing of the limbs for theft if they could get away with it!!!. In
fact, many Reform Party/Canadian Alliance MPs before they become part
of the new Conservative Party of Canada are on record for expressing
support for the restoration of capital punishment, the return of
corporal punishment to schools, and even having offenders as young as
10 who are guilty of committing non-violent crimes such as theft to be
put in jail with adult males who are in jail for murder and rape. Don't
forget that Stephen Harper's new Conservative Party of Canada is not
the old Progressive Conservative Party of Joe Clark and Brian Mulroney;
but is instead an extreme right-wing federal political party based on
the American Conservative model. Let's not forget that George W. Bush,
who is Stephen Harper's idol, has executed both juveniles and mentally
ill people while he was governor of Texas. Dozens if not Hundreds of
these same people who have been executed in the United States have
later been found to have been totally innocent by DNA testing.
Stephen Harper's new Conservative Party of Canada's inclination toward
American Republican values is perhaps the most alarming aspect to the
current federal election campaign.
"Leave-it-to-Beaver",
1950s-style American Republican party ideals.
The old pragmatic, practical, centrist Progressive Conservative Party
of Canada which
sought a multilateral foreign policy, moderate tax cuts, protection for
minority rights,
and values which quite often overlapped with the Liberals and NDP. Once
past the petty posturing, there was little significant difference
between the old Progressive Conservative Party of Canada under Joe
Clark and Brian Mulroney, the Liberals, and the NDP of what
constituted the common good of all Canadians.
That is how John Diefenbaker's Progressive Conservative Party of Canada
opposed
the nuclear armament of the United States of America, how Brian
Mulroney's Progressive
Conservative Party of Canada enforced the Liberal's Canada Health Act,
in itself born
of an NDP grand vision; or even how the current governing Liberals
adopted the deficit-slashing of the old Progressive Conservative Party
of Canada, resulting in eight consecutive
balanced budgets.
Yet the old Progressive Conservative Party of Canada no longer exists.
And in this watershed election, it is increasingly clear that the
policies, programs and values of the new Conservative Party of Canada,
which is more or less the old Reform Party/Canadian Alliance which has
been renamed and rebranded, has much more in common with the
perspectivr of the extreme right-wing, selfish, social darwinist,
unilateralist, fundementalist controlled, racist, sexist, bigoted,
homophobic American Republican Party of George W. Bush, which
is hated, reviled, detested by tens of millions of Americans and
perhaps billions of people worldwide for its arrogent, cocky,
deceitful, imperialist, hegemonic global interferences, double
standards, and domination agenda.
The new Conservative Party of Canada just like the former Reform
Party/Canadian Alliance, of which it has simply been renamed and
rebranded, also tends to follow an even older American Republicanism on
social issues, like the 1950's presidency of Dwight Eisenhower.
That racist, sexist, bigoted, homophobic, misogynistic, patriarchal
American style Republicanism with the husband-wife-children living in
an all White suburb where the Husband is the sole breadwinner and boss
of the family, where the Wife stays home to cook and clean, and where
the Children where neckties to school; advocates a supposedly
well-ordered society based on the traditional family unit, which they
would have you believe begets a sound community, which they would have
you believe begets a sound nation.
In this view, family and community enabled self-reliance, individual
responsibility, faith, discipline, strong morality, and made possible a
smaller role for government in the everyday life of citizens. Of course
what both American Republican and Canadian Conservatives won't tell you
about this vision and the era which its rooted in, is that the era in
question contained things such as segregation, poverty, inequality,
illiteracy, spousal abuse, child abuse, corporal punishment,
institutional racism and sexism which made the running of families,
religious institutions, businesses, universities, hospitals, law
enforcement, and the military by and for the exclusive benefit of White
Men. Throughout history, many ordinary White Men all across Canada have
sought to fight against this unfair and quite often unearned allocation
of societal privileges and to improve the lives of their fellow
Canadians who as a result of being born as a woman, visible minority,
aboriginal or disabled were quite often denied equality of opportunity
in employment, education, ans housing. Many White Men including former
Progressive Conservative Party of Canada leader and Prime Minister Joe
Clark fought hard to bring about anti-discrimination measures and
equality of opportunity for women, visible minorities, aboriginals, and
peoples with disabilities. Other examples of this are former
Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario leaders and premiers John
Robarts and Bill Davis, who did a great deal of excellent work to bring
about equality, fairness, and human rights in areas such as employment,
education, and housing to their Province of Ontario.
Unfortunately, Stephen Harper is not one of these men.
This 1950's American Conservative vision which largely dominates the
crafting of social and economic policy within Stephen Harper's new
Conservative Party of Canada fails to accept the reality that women,
visible minorities, aboriginal people, and people with disabilities are
also citizens of Canada and also deserve an equal role in our nation.
Stephen Harper's new Conservative Party of Canada and its social and
economy policy largely reflects the handiwork of White Men who seem to
be trying to deny and perfect the racist, sexist, bigoted, homophobic
past and to accommodate the imperatives of their beloved bygone age
into the more complex and pluralistic reality of today's Canada, where
most women are in the workforce; where visible minorities make valuable
contributions to Canada's political, economic, and social life; where
aboriginals enrich our society and culture, and where we are truly a
nation of minorities woven together by a rich tapestry of different
genders, cultures, races, ethnicities, religions, beliefs, values, and
spoken languages. These socially regressive, backward, Neanderthals in
Stephen Harper's new Conservative Party of Canada would have such an
easier time implementing their racist, sexist, bigoted, homophobic
social and economic policies if Canada was still controlled by and for
the benefit of White Men.
The new Conservative Party of Canada makes its strongest appeal to
patriarchal and socially conservative currents in places such as rural
Alberta. The new Conservative Party of Canada offers very little for
Canadians who live in Ontario, Quebec, Atlantic Canada, Cities, or
those Canadians who are female, visible minority, aboriginal, disabled,
homeless, or who speak French.
Stephen Harper believes in the traditional family with no time or
patience for those who chose not to have children, those who live
together while they are unmarried, those who
love another person of the same gender, those who live lifestyles that
are different than that of a traditional family unit headed by a
patriarchal male. Seen through the twisted filter of classical American
Republicanism, Stephen Harper's economic and social policies make
eminent sense. He says he "hates all taxes" so it is logical for him to
cut the GST and remove money from vital social programs, or what he
would call "big government wants"
as opposed to "real citizen needs" (i.e, the needs of Stephen Harper
traditional family unit dominated by a patriarchal male, who is
preferable White and old fashioned).
Stephen Harper believes in punishment over rehabilitation for the
"wicked", and seeks sternet minimum sentences, even though these are
proven to be hugely expensive with no deterrent effect. Just look at
correctional facilities in the United States of America that are dirty,
overcrowded and controlled by roving violent gangs. The United States
of America has the highest incarceration rate of any other nation in
the Western World. The failed and bankrupted American "war on drugs" is
the main reason why millions of non-violent offenders are currently
locked up in American jails with a huge cost to the American taxpayer.
Once again though the American "war on drugs" is not based on an urgent
need to arrest drug dealers or those who have drug addictions in terms
of public safety, it is instead the old American "crime and punishment"
mentality born in the days of the Wild West with
the "frontier justice at high noon" ideals. The American Republican
Party's crime platform just like Stephen Harper's new Conservative
Party of Canada's crime platform is based largely not on a clear and
present need for harsher penalties on violent crime, but instead is
focused on "moral crimes" such as drug dealing and drug use. This is
but one of many examples of how American style Religious Fundamentalism
shapes and molds both the American Republican Party and the new
Conservative Party of Canada. I am quite sure if Stephen Harper's new
Conservative Party of Canada could wave a magic wand they would have
public whippings for blasphemy, stoning to death for adultery, and
severing of the limbs for theft if they could get away with it!!!. In
fact, many Reform Party/Canadian Alliance MPs before they become part
of the new Conservative Party of Canada are on record for expressing
support for the restoration of capital punishment, the return of
corporal punishment to schools, and even having offenders as young as
10 who are guilty of committing non-violent crimes such as theft to be
put in jail with adult males who are in jail for murder and rape. Don't
forget that Stephen Harper's new Conservative Party of Canada is not
the old Progressive Conservative Party of Joe Clark and Brian Mulroney;
but is instead an extreme right-wing federal political party based on
the American Conservative model. Let's not forget that George W. Bush,
who is Stephen Harper's idol, has executed both juveniles and mentally
ill people while he was governor of Texas. Dozens if not Hundreds of
these same people who have been executed in the United States have
later been found to have been totally innocent by DNA testing.
Stephen Harper's new Conservative Party of Canada's inclination toward
American Republican values is perhaps the most alarming aspect to the
current federal election campaign.