Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Since when did everyone become so fatalistic.

A lot of people I have spoken with and a lot of blogs I have read, seem to believe that the world is going to end simply because Stephen Harper has become the Prime Minister. Now, I am not a supporter of any political party; I tend to look at things from an objective eye. I also believe in freedom of speech and respect everyone's opinion, whether I personally agree with it or not. I also believe that every argument deserves a retort. So, here is mine.

People! It's only a MINORITY government. These things only last for 2-3 years topps. Listen, the sun will come up tomorrow and so on. As Trudeau once noted, "Despite all its shams, it's still a beautiful world. Strive to be happy."

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The Hek

2 comments:

Blake said...

Well said, my friend.

I wholeheartedly agree. In addition to being non-partisan like yourself, I'm also a committed centrist and pragmatist politically. Harper and the Tories may lean a bit too far to the right most of the time for my tastes, but he's certainly no George W. Bush (despite what the alarmist left-leaning pundits say). Harper's smart enough to know he can't aggressively pursue a drastic conservative agenda in Parliament at present; he risks losing the all-important ground he made electorally with moderate voters (especially in Quebec). He won't jeopardize his position like that so soon.

That's the beauty of a minority government. The strong Liberal opposition (along with the Bloc and NDP) will ensure a certain degree of checks and balances on Tory power in the House. Harper will tread carefully in order to avoid having his government brought down too soon; he won't be able to strong-arm a bill through Parliament so easily. Essentially, the Opposition will hold the balance of power. As a result, I think that, by and large, a relatively moderate, centre-right legislative and policy agenda will prevail for a long while.

Besides, there's a lot in the Conservative platform I agree with and support (EXCEPT their same-sex marriage stance) - e.g. reducing the GST, more money for the military, tougher gun control laws (incl. scrapping the gun registry), tougher sentencing standards for criminals, removing voting privileges for prisoners, improving relations with the U.S., et al.

Anonymous said...

Oh, we know the world hasn't ended. It just felt that way for a few minutes.

- Mr. Wood