Stephen Harper claims that the opposition parties are acting undemocratically. This is bullshit. Democracy is the rule of the people. As long as politicians act to serve their own political agenda, or that of their party, they are not acting democratically. This is why I believe only in minority governments.
The House of Commons should be a microcosm of Canada; a representation of the whole of Canada. But, in one sense, it should be better. While each group may want to determine how the country’s priorities are determined, the HoC should demonstrate to the country that one group should not have and lord power over the rest. In this way the politicians would work together to solve the problems of the country in the best interest of the whole of Canada. This is not about compromise.
Compromise means sacrificing ideals. Ideals, however, belong to ideology. And ideology often means sacrificing what is best for everyone and holding fast to what is believed to be true. The two are not necessarily the same. In fact ideology usually blinds people from what is best.
Minority governments must work together in order to be productive and do what is best and what is right. In a minority government there is not one group that has the power to determine the direction of government and the country. Coalition governments help achieve this. Particularly if all of the parties are involved.
In this case it is not all the parties. But the ruling party has decided not to play with others. And that is a demonstration that the Conservatives do not believe in democracy. And in this case the ruling party has sent a clear signal to Canadians that their own ideology is more important than democracy.
Anyone who kills another person has made a definite declaration that there is a clear and distinct hierarchy of human life and value. The willing to kill demonstrates that there are people who are of a lower calibre and are disposable. Those who act selflessly to defend another person demonstrate that there are people of higher calibre.
Engagement in any act of war is a demonstration to the world that equality is a farce. As long as governments and the people that support them, continue to fund an army there cannot and will not be peace in our time or a semblance of equality in the world.
To remember those who fought for our freedom is to forget that our freedom cost us the realization of equality.
And to complain about those who have died in current war zones is to forget that a violent fight for freedom is a quiet fight against the dignity and equality for everyone.
Everyone has a right to life event those who are wrong about their convictions.
Remembrance Day is for remembering those who killed for their ideals. Everyone who has ever fought or killed has done so for their ideals. So, today, we should should remember everyone who fought and died for their beliefs, whether right or wrong.
Those who fought against the Nazis in WWII are called heros for doing what they thought was right. But those who fought against the Allies did the same thing and we don’t call them heros. And, while I agree they were wrong, there was no opportunity or channel for dialogue. And without dialogue there cannot be change.
This leaves us with a conundrum. The Nazis lost and the Allies won, but the hearts and minds of those who lived but lost were not won. So the problem was attacked but never quashed. This is why the Germans have never fully dealt with the issue of Nazism.
And the issue of WWII was never that of prejudice or racism. The problem was that everyone who fought and killed did so because they believed that by killing others they would prove their ideals. And, in the end, there was no dialogue and therefore nothing was proven or dealt with.
Without dialogue there cannot be change. And war is always the end of dialogue.
I can almost hear the calls for me to not forget those who fought for our freedoms, and I am halfway around the world and days way from Remembrance Day. My grandfathers both took a stand during WWII. They refused to fight. They believed that all people had inherent value and that to kill another person is to steal that value.
For every life a person takes, they are making a claim not over land, ideas, resources or power. They are making the claim that some lives are more valuable than others. They are making the claim that their own personal value is greater than those who will die for it. read more »
There are some things I understand. There are some things I don’t understand. I don’t understand the following:
- Why photosynthesis works
- What magnetism actually is
- The appeal of Sarah Palin
- The appeal of mushrooms
- Why the same brainiacs who created a problem are the ones who are being consulted to fix the problem.
- Why the solution to a problem is a new coat of varnish over the old.
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