This Man as Prime Minister?
He is stiff of demeanor, there is no human warmth exuded from his personality. He is, I have no doubt, embued with a sense of mission. He has dedicated at least this part of his life to politics, ostensibly for the purpose of leading this country into a direction which he considers to be its just due. Trouble is, his direction is not reflective of that considered by most of his fellow Canadians to be a just, socially responsible, and mature society for the 21st century.He claims to be an honest man, and by his guiding lights, perhaps he is, but what politician can honestly claim true rectitude? Politics, by its very nature is a social game of one-upsmanship, of insisting that your particular vision should prevail. That which is expedient is the path taken. Real agendas can be cleverly concealed, to be brought out at the appropriate time. The appropriate time being once a politician has been safely elected and ensconced in the ultimate seat of political power. Mr. Harper's path is one of religious righteousness, a kind of moral imperative that is reflective of an unbending, unyielding, dare I say unChristian mind? It is not the politics of inclusivity. In a kind, mature and understanding society there is an attempt to work toward the wider good, to ensure that no one based on his or her condition in life and orientation is excluded. Gender, economic conditions, ethnicity, sexual or religious orientation should not exclude people from sharing in the same opportunities given to those who fit easily into the categories of normalcy reflecting a majority population.
Right-wing idealogues are rather unbending by temperament and orientation, convinced as they are that their rigid standards of normalcy are to be observed, and the rest can fall by the wayside. To the fair-minded, the socially aware, the average citizen of Canada, no one among us should be exempt from partaking of the opportunities that this society offers its citizens. It is why, although most Canadians, myself included, feel that same-sex marriage is in the nature of a silly conceit since by its very nature it is not reflective of what can be termed the tradition of marriage as a covenant between two (reproductively capable or otherwise heterosexuals) people, and that a legally-recognized and protected civil union would have very well sufficed, we still insist on the legality of same-sex marriages, because this is what those involved wish to have, to bless their union. Equal opportunity, equal recognition, equal status.
Stephen Harper and his ilk are somewhat less generous in this regard, and although same-sex unions are now recognized within the legal framework in Canada, he would take steps to reverse the irreversible. This is not the kind of tolerance that Canadians pride themselves on.
Stephen Harper and his supporters have very little tolerance for the socially and economically inept, those who through ill fortune of one kind or another have been unable to be fully self-supportive. He considers the wide social support network within Canada to be reflective of a welfare state. I see nothing wrong, nor do most Canadians, of providing well being and the means to an adequate existence to fellow Canadians who require that help. Mr. Harper does not speak for me, nor does he speak for the gross majority of Canadians who are more than willing to offer a helping hand to others within our communities.
Our economic growth has not been stunted, as right-wing ideologues like to put forward, by the 'burden' of caring for our brothers and sisters. Our standard of living is equal to and surpasses that of most industrialized countries, our education system second to none, the opportunities offered to our people more than adequate to meet current needs. Yes, we have some problems in the administration of huge unwieldy social programmes, and there is much room for improvement, but abandoning those programmes which have served us well and continue to do so, is not the answer. It will take far wiser heads than mine and than Mr. Harper's to find the solutions to many of our social delivery problems, but those solutions can and will be found.
posted by Pieface @ Saturday, December 17, 2005
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