So much for democracy

[Grumpy Cat]

I’m always wary of the words like "fascism" and "dictatorship." People on the left have a tendency to use such terms too casually, which simply erodes their power. So when I find myself deeply disquieted by the attitudes and actions of the Harper government, I’m not in a rush to apply those names.

And yet . . . at what point in the 1930s should Germans or Italians have begun to use those terms and to treat their own governments with distrust and suspicion? Hitler was democratically elected after all — with a minority government — and then employed what one commentator calls his "blend of political acuity, deceptiveness and cunning" to transform Germany’s feeble democracy into the murderous Third Reich.

At what point did the majority of Germans — who were not Nazis — definitively fail to stop him? And what should they have done? And how would Canadians recognize a similar moment in our own country, if one should occur?

I am not saying that Stephen Harper is another Hitler, even in embryo. But as I watch his masterful and ruthless manipulation of his situation as a minority prime minister, I am certainly struck by his "blend of political acuity, deceptiveness and cunning."

He dodges defeat by proroguing Parliament — not once, but twice. When the Supreme Court rules that his government has infringed the charter rights of Omar Kadr, he ignores the Supreme Court. He treats politics as a perpetual state of total war. He loads up his budget bill with all manner of contentious, non-budget items and dares the Opposition to defeat the bill and precipitate an election.

The smaller parties might accept the dare, but the Liberals — never a party of principle — are terrified of an election, so they become Harper’s enablers.

Since the Liberals are jellyfish, the true opposition must come from outside Parliament. A petition now circulating begins, "Since 2006 the Government of Canada has systematically undermined democratic institutions and practices, and has eroded the protection of free speech, and other fundamental human rights.

"It has deliberately set out to silence the voices of organizations or individuals who raise concerns about government policies or disagree with government positions. It has weakened Canada’s international standing as a leader in human rights. The impact and consequences for the health of democracy, freedom of expression, and the state of human rights protection in Canada are unparalleled."

All true, and you can find the petition at www.voices-voix.ca/en/declaration

http://thechronicleherald.ca/TheNova...n/1196900.html

[lei.talk]

Since 2006 the Government of Canada has systematically undermined democratic institutions and practices, and has eroded the protection of free speech, and other fundamental human rights.

It has deliberately set out to silence the voices of organizations or individuals who raise concerns about government policies or disagree with government positions. It has weakened Canada’s international standing as a leader in human rights. The impact and consequences for the health of democracy, freedom of expression, and the state of human rights protection in Canada are unparalleled.

all too easily accomplished with in this structure.

in contrast, there is much to be learned from this system.

fortunately for the canadian citizenry, to date,
there has been no strong drive toward fascism
or any other brutal consolidation of power.

that system has the appearance
of the ultimate defence-mechanism for a terrified pseudo-narcissist.

an opportunity awaiting abuse.

[Liffrea]

Arguably political elites in much of the Western world that styles itself as “democratic” (a nebulous and largely meaningless word itself I find) have never been as fundamentally opposed to the general outlook of significant numbers of the masses.

Personally, though, I take a different view people won’t see their much vaunted democracies disappear they will come to realise just how much of a fabrication they always have been anyway.

[Psychonaut]

all too easily accomplished with in this structure[COLOR="royalblue"][SIZE="4"][FONT="Arial"].

Indeed. Constitutions lacking in explicit provisions for freedom of speech can and do tend towards restrictions being enacted against the same, viz. Germany, Canada, the UK, etc.