Influence

I wrote earlier this week about Charles McVety and his stand on bill C-10.

His ties to this government have always disturbed me, but he fades into the background until a social issue comes into national focus. Then, he pops up again and comes into our consciousness.

The more I thought about that, the more it bothered me. It highlights what happens when we are not paying attention, which is what I think is occurring in Canada at this moment.

We are living in unusual times and while I realise every generation utters those words, mine is the only one I can speak to with any experience.

What I mean by unusual is that we have had the very real experience of watching a right wing revolution to our South, one heavily influenced by the religious right. The politicos and their advisers added just the right amount of secular issues to their platform to draw in voters who were fiscal conservatives but social moderates. In the end, it paid off for the GOP, but not for the country nor the world for that matter.

So, we have seen this movie before and we know the ending, yet we seem to be completely oblivious when it comes to identifying that same strategy employed here in Canada. Why is that?

I know right wingers roll their eyes when they read such comments, but fact is fact. They either roll their eyes because they know the statement is accurate and they want to discount it or they roll their eyes because they really don't see it, because their aim is to have that kind of government in power.

The fact that someone like McVety has real access to Harper should disturb all of us greatly. I'm not suggesting that the PM would take all of his demands and implement them outright, but it should be obvious that this government will find ways to slip into it's agenda just enough of what the loons want to keep them satisfied.

Is this a new story? No of course not. All governments look to keep their supporters happy and all governments are lobbied. What's disturbing is who is lobbying because it is changing the fabric of the country. These Con's are not your grandpa's PC's.

cherniak_wtf, recently commented:

There has been a slow but steady infiltration of corporatism and socially repressive agenda in the U.S. and Canada. The fact that a Jesus Freak such as McVety is even close to the government is testament enough for me, that freedom of speech and liberty are under attack.

A few years ago, who would of thought that America would be a rogue state, kidnapping and torturing? Who would of thought that the Canadian government would not give a shit about on of it's own accused of being a child soldier and rotting in jail?

I agree completely, but I also witness our anemic reaction and wonder why it is so.

Think for a moment of who must by lobbying this government and how it has manifested itself into policy.

- McVety
- REAL Women
- Bogus org's that deny climate change
- Corp's who push against regulations vis a vis climate change
- Anti-abortion groups
- Right wing tax think tanks
- Right wing think tanks, period
- Pro death penalty groups
- Pro gun groups

Well that list goes on, but also consider who he put into positions of power.

- Stockwell Day
- Vic Toews
- Rob Nicholson
- Jim Flaherty
- Tony Clement
- John Baird
- Diane Finley

That list also goes on. Studying the history of any of the groups or the Ministers I've mentioned, paints a pretty clear picture.

So the question remains. Why? Why are we not paying attention and drawing the comparison? We've traditionally been a country that respected our neighbors to the south, but we went to great lengths to differentiate ourselves from them. Not out of spite or malice, but rather from an objective view that assessed what would be an asset to our way of life. We had pride, perhaps even hubris (with humility, lol), in terms of how we observed the world and found our place in it. We seem to be losing that ability and again I ask the question, why?

I find this particular time in Canadian history extremely disturbing. I want to understand it and I want to reverse it.

It's not a tidal wave, but it's a wave that is lapping at the fabric of our country. We are apparently standing on the shore chatting, ignoring that lapping and failing to look over our shoulder to see what it portends.

What do you think will make us look?