Sooey Says

Ottawans made a really bad decision recently. They elected a new Mayor. A Mayor so shiny and new - he could be The Love Boat. Instead, he's just a rich guy on the Right of the political spectrum who got the job on a "0% tax increase" promise. Oh - and also because his main competition was a seasoned City Councillor on the Left.

Stupid voters. Will they never learn? Taxes will always go up. That's life. It costs money. And the politician who tells you that it won't, that life will be CHEAPER under his watch, is not someone you want running Government services. Because when he says "life will be CHEAPER" - he means "YOUR life will be cheaper". That's because it's already pretty worthless to him - he's rich.

And I say Larry O'Brien is on the Right, not just because he's a fly-by-night rich guy on the Right (which he is - thanks to lots of Government contracts, too, I might add), but because he strikes me as the kind of guy I wouldn't trust to hold my mother's purse. That's how I feel about Politicians on the Right. Leery. Very, very leery. How do I feel about politicians on the Left? Dismayed. Very, very dismayed. Because I know - Canadians, by and large, are short-term voters and will never commit to a Government on the Left.

Otherwise, "Act Locally, Think Globally" would be our motto. Instead of, "We Always Get Our Man" or "The True North Strong and Free" or "But It's a Dry Cold".

Anyway, how we vote got me thinking about this Left/Right divide. There were a few stories in the news recently that made me realize why, as a socially progressive/fiscally socialist Lefty (and it's literal, too - Lefthanded R Us), I have such an intense distrust of the Right. The main one involves the late Tommy Douglas and the RCMP:

Cripes, We Can't Even Get Our Lefty

Why am I not surprised that the RCMP wasted our money and its time spying on Tommy Douglas? Why are you not surprised? Because we know now, that the Right is the enemy of Democracy. The Right values Order, the Establishment and the Establishment of Order - OVER Democracy. Read the National Post editorial board's Eulogy of Pinochet if you don't believe me. In fact, read any article in the National Post and you will soon realize that the owners of the media chain on down are champions of Private Healthcare - to the point where I am quite sure that if Tommy Douglas were alive today to be pilloried in the press, the National Post would be leading the charge with cries of, "Deport Him to Syria! He's wearing Lenin glasses!"

And yet, who claims to be all about freedom? The Right. Would they approve of the RCMP spying on Tommy Douglas? Of course they would. He's on the Left. Do people on the Left think the RCMP should be spying on those THEY see as "Enemies of Canada". No. No they don't. People on the Left don't trust the RCMP. The RCMP represents the interests of the Right. ALL police forces represent the interests of the Right. Remember Toronto cops campaigning in uniform for Mike Harris? On our dime? They got a raise out of it, too. The "Taxfighter" gave it them after he got elected.

People on the Left believe in social progress. People on the Right want to go back to a simpler time. A simpler bigoted time, as it were.

Because yes, I watched the Michael Coren Show last night featuring Ottawa's own Hate Radio host, Lowell Green. Now, if you don't know who Lowell Green is, think Rush Limbaugh with a couple of bankruptcies. Literal bankruptcies. Lowell Green, of course, is on the Right of the political spectrum. And what he was saying on the Michael Coren Show last night was the stuff of southern lynch mobs and elderly British tea parties. I won't bother re-iterating his ranting here. Afterall, if we haven't all danced naked with our Grandmothers, we've at least all heard Gramma McRacist say of Pearson International Airport after a trip away to visit rellies, "I hardly knew I was in Canada!"

It was that sort of ranting. With lots of finger wagging at the Left. "You guys are responsible for this mess!" And "Look around - they've ruined everything" And "Canada used to be a great nation and now it's a joke".

I mean, where to begin? A) I don't see the "mess"; B) The Left has never formed the Government of Canada; and C) Define "great nation". So, with regards to A) and B) I'd have to say - if there's a "mess" (and I don't see what Lowell Green sees) I'd have to say it was made by the Right. With a lot of help from the Center. The Center being that bulk of political inevitabilities that Democracy brings. With regards to C) well, "the more things change, the more they stay the same"? I dunno. I should add here that when people phone in to Lowell Green's show to not vent their hatred alongside him, he hangs up on them. It's true. And yet - people still phone in. ??? Ah, the wonders of modern technology and leisure time at work. Unless all the callers are out-of-work layabouts...

But back to the "inevitabilities that Democracy brings". Democracy. Remember? That's the thing that leads to a more inclusive society. Where more and more people have rights previously denied them. The good thing. The good thing that the Right really doesn't want at all.

And I think I've got it figured out. The Right doesn't want Democracy to grow because it figures that the more Democracy spreads itself around (i.e. "thin") the less Democracy there is for them. That their lives are CHEAPENED (see opening paragraph for full circle picture) by Democracy because - if everybody has it, it can't be worth much - can it.

No wonder the Right is so angry about Democracy. They believe Democracy is at work/play cheapening their lives.

So, why isn't the Left angry about Democracy? Oh yeah - because the Left understands that the more people are empowered by Democracy - the more Democracy there is. For everybody.

There.