This Is the Speech That Should Trouble You

So Harper's speechwriter plagiarized some passages from a John Howard rant five years ago, so what? Harper didn't create his far-right ideology, he merely embraced it and he's been a talking head for his cause ever since. Big deal.

There is one Harper speech that bothers me, one from the days before he shaped his words for political advantage; a speech that conveys the true Stephen Harper and how he sees our country and our people.

This speech goes back to a time when Harper was, as veep of the National Citizens Coalition, free to speak his mind and free to denounce Canada and gleefully malign Canadians before a meeting of the ultra-secretive, ultra-right Republican elitist group, the Council for National Policy. This reveals the true Harp of Darkness:

"...it's legendary that if you're like all Americans, you know almost nothing except for your own country. Which makes you probably knowledgeable about one more country than most Canadians."

"Canada is a Northern European welfare state in the worst sense of the term, and very proud of it. Canadians make no connection between the fact that they are a Northern European welfare state and the fact that we have very low economic growth, a standard of living substantially lower than yours, a massive brain drain of young professionals to your country, and double the unemployment rate of the United States.

"Some people point out that there is a small element of clergy in the NDP. Yes, this is true. but these are clergy who, while very committed to the church, believe that it made a historic error in adopting Christian theology."

"...before the Reform Party really became a force in the late '80s, early '90s, the leadership of the Conservative Party was running the largest deficits in Canadian history. They were in favour of gay rights officially, officially for abortion on demand. Officially - what else can I say about them? Officially for the entrenchment of our universal, collectivized, health-care system and multicultural policies in the constitution of the country."

Harper's soul ingrained worship for all things Republican may seem comical today. Castigating Canadians for their social values and tying them to near-biblical plagues of low growth, diminished standards of living and high unemployment.

Steve would have liked Canada to have the same sort of political, social and economic model that's been let loose upon America these past three decades, the rightwing horde who've driven their country, its economy and its people straight into the ditch where it remains so mired today.

And this sphincter has the gall to mock us and our institutions and our values? That speech showed the real face of Stephen Harper. That speech is the one we all ought to be angry about.