How do you source your reality? Do you discern it out of the best facts available or do you divine it out of your beliefs?
A sane person finds reality anchored in facts. A lunatic cares little for facts and anchors his notion of reality in the beliefs embedded in his psyche. That pretty much sums up the cognitive path of our prime minister, Stephen Harper.
You can see our prime minister's dysfunction in both what seizes his attention and what, curiously, does not.
After 8+ years at the helm, Stephen Harper's agenda seems astonishingly truncated. His focus appears narrowed to doing everything conceivable to promote Canada's fossil fuel resources, particularly bitumen; defunding the federal government; and exploiting the powers of office in the most unconscionable way to stifle dissent and punish opponents.
All in all, Stephen Harper is a nasty piece of work. He's a true shitheel and very little else. He's far from a leader of a nation. He governs, not by anything resembling leadership, but through secrecy, falsehood, manipulation (especially of his supporters), coercion and intimidation. He sees base instinct as opportunity.
Coming to power on promises of transparency and accountability, Harper immediately threw a blanket over government beneath which he wasted no time transforming the national police force, the public service and the armed forces, into his partisan political agencies. For eight years we have seen how, as his personal property, these branches of government have been sequestered, marooned, isolated from the public, even from the press. I do not know what sort of offices Joseph Stalin must have maintained but I suspect they bore at least a passing resemblance to today's PMO, Harper's den of skullduggery.
Even as grave problems loom and evolve that threaten the country and future generations, this empty vessel of manhood simply ignores them. Climate change, inequality, the faltering of our economic, industrial, social and geo-political apparatus are simply irrelevant to a Canada as it exists in Harper's reality.
It would be one thing if this character's authoritarian instincts were benevolent but they're not. He has not secured the future of our country and our people. He has repeatedly advanced narrow interests over the public good. We know from confidantes that Harper has a decidedly Jekyll and Hyde persona. He cloaks himself in Jekyll for public consumption but those on the inside must stand dutifully as Hyde emerges when Harper is free from prying eyes.
It is difficult to understand why the opposition fail to attack Harper in the Commons, calling him out, denouncing him for his tyranny and despotism. A dictionary definition of "tyrant" or "despot" fits Harper perfectly. He's nothing if not authoritarian, autocratic, arbitrary, cruel and oppressive.
The opposition lacks the numbers to have any meaningful impact on Harper's authoritarian legislative initiatives. Why not, then, organize a resistance? Call him out on the floor of the House. Denounce him as a despot, a chiseler, a liar. Accept banishment from the Commons and establish a resistance movement, akin to a government (in waiting) in exile at the periphery of Parliament.
Harper is unhinged but the Canadian people are not. Create an example. Show disaffected, disengaged Canadians that they too can rise up and resist this farce of a government. I think they would find a welcoming audience from one end of this country to the other.
Harper's good for nothing.
ReplyDeleteFor all these years, I've often wondered about him. Was he smarter than I gave him credit for? Were there hidden depths?
At this point, though, the realization is, he's a scam artist. And not a very good one.
Good post Mound. Why don't Canadians create a resistance to the regressive and repressive Harperites?
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm always left wondering. How did we Canadians allow ourselves to be led by a jumped up little Imperial Oil mail room clerk?
Great post Mound and if the political will existed for the greater good, we would see a massive and sustained push back against our "strong stable majority" government lead by this empty suit of a man. I gotta say though when Tom Mulcair gets on a roll, he can truly make beezlebub squirm but he doesn't seem to get much support and it fizzles all too quickly.
ReplyDeleteI think Canadians are far too meek and mild (or cowardly?) for anything like resistance. I am what used to be called a "New Canadian", a thoroughly disgusted and disappointed immigrant who is seriously thinking of returning from where I came from. Am I the only one in this category? Did all the other immigrants come for the monster house and the SUV, and damn democracy? Are other Canadians thinking of leaving if Harper gets another 4 years of dictatorship handed on a platter or through more cheating? How can "real" Canadians face their children while they just sit there and let Harper get away with EVERYTHING???
ReplyDeleteOne particularly despicable remark that has been flung at me when I said something similar to above was "Canadian politics has always been corrupt". How would a "real" Canadian counter this?
ReplyDeleteI am a real Canadian. I hang on to my hockey stick in a fight - Gordie Howe's first Rule of Hockey, you can look it up. And I am looking for a phone booth . . . to cast my vote. Soon.
ReplyDeletej a m e s