The Big Blue Tent: Are We All Comfy?
"Conservative"
What does that mean to you?
It's a problem that you don't grapple with much when you are in opposition or in a minority government, because your choices are pretty limited in terms of what you actually have to deliver.
However, win a majority government, and it starts to become a problem. Because now, you CAN do pretty much whatever you want, and the people that vote for you know it. So you start to feel pressure to respond to your constituency.
And this becomes a problem, even for the relatively narrowly focused conservative tent, as compared, for example, to the Liberals, and the NDP who now have to answer to their separatist block (bloc?)
So.
Imagine MY consern when this libertarian and "conservative" voter, as in "government should do LESS not more", decides they need to rename our military to re-align with the Monarchy.
Of all the things we need government to do, changing the name of the military back to "Royal" is about, oh, last on the list.
But here we go anyway.
Canadians are still struggling to restore their standard of living in a slowly improving economy, our national debt continues to mount, and, yet, the priority of our government appears to be spending money, not saving it.
We catch wind that Tony Clement was feathering his constituency nest on the taxpayer dime.
We have the drive to "law and order" even as we learn that the current system is working just fine, thank-you.
What we don't have?
A move to show any effort to truly reduce the scope of government in our lives.
Now - don't get me wrong - as Barack Obama is so fond of saying these days, Stephen Harper inherited quite the mess, which he couldn't do a whole lot with under a minority government.. but we don't get anywhere by expecting less of our leaders.
I want to know more about Tony Clement's spending of my tax dollars, I want the government to abandon further ideological stupidity like efforts to rename our military, and I want our government to make some real effort to reduce government and government spending.
And building more jails and encouraging greater litigation expense by employing manditory minimum sentences isn't cutting it. It's not going to make us safer and it's going to increase government spending.
So.
Let's see what you do with your majority, Mr. Harper.
Those who voted for you who are not mindless ideologues are watching and do not see your party as the only voting choice they have.
3 comments:
Absolutely; I vote Conservative because I think they're marginally better than the other weasels in the running, but every time I see how hard they're working to hide back-room shenanigans or doing pointless window-dressing BS like adding "royal", I see how un-different they are from the other creeps that have been in power for so long. I swore I would never vote PC again after Mulroney got caught accepting cash under the table, and Harper isn't doing very much right now to show he's any more trust-worthy.
I'm a Liberal. Harper inherited a budget in surplus. He lacks the fiscal disipline of Chretien/Martin. Aside from the nastiness he pretty much governs as a Liberal.
He is doing nothing about abortion or gay marriage. He stacked the senate with party cronies. He talked a good game about Hans Island and arctic sovereingnt, bad has done nothing. He plays a shellgame with public money to manipulate votes (Tony Clement G-8 boondoggle for example). Getting rid of the gun registry will be his only non-liberal accomplishment. Big whoop. I'd rather see him balance the budget and stop the record deficits.
Hate to say it, but you make some good points GP.
I was a Liberal.
The stupidity of the gun registry more than anything moved me to the Conservatives.. and Chretien's rank refusal to accept responsibility for Adscam..
But my vote is parked for no one.
Show me good governance, and you'll get my vote.
Show me the same old, same old, and I'll find another place to put it.
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