Some thoughts on the election to our North...
I seriously doubt that there really is such a word, but if there were, I would be a "Canadianophile." I've always admired our neighbor to the North- and it's not simply a question of being the son of two people who were hockey fans two decades before being a hockey fan was cool.
I like their system. As unpopular as this statement might be among American right-of-center bloggers, I like the parliamentary system much better than ours. It's more responsive, for one thing. A government cannot presume upon its mandate, and the great issues of the day can bring about an election when the country needs it, not merely when the calendar says it's time to vote again.
For the past three elections, there has been no single Conservative opposition to the Liberal government. That changed eight months ago, when the Western Reform Party and the corpse of the old Progressive Conservative Party united to form the Conservative Party of Canada. As of this moment, it has captured 97 seats, to become the official Opposition to Prime Minister Paul Martin's Liberals, which are forming a minority government, presumably with the informal help of the far-Left New Democratic Party's 21.
Stephen Harper, the leader of the Conservative Party, deserves our congratulations. By all precident, soon- perhaps within the year- there will be another election. Hopefully Stephen Harper will emerge from that election as Prime Minister of Canada.
There is a great deal about the Canada of today I do not admire. I do not admire its institutionalized policy of legalized abortion, a blight upon any civilized society. I certainly do not admire its judicially- imposed institution of homosexual "marriage," the overthrow of two thousand years of the ethics of Western civilization on the issue at the behest of a few radical judges. We in the States can sympathize with that; judicial tyranny has proven, here as well as North of the border, the Achilles' heel of democracy.
The lack of rancor in the campaign concluded tonight is a rebuke to all of us in the States, but especially, I believe, to the Democrats- the Party of Hate, whose entire platform in this campaign is bitter, ugly spleen toward the President from whom they failed to steal Florida and the Electoral college in the last election. We can learn from our neighbors to the North in how free people can get along despite their disagreements and conflicts.
Yet at the same time, tonight's result is a reminder that there is no end to the campaign in democratic societies. The debate continues, even in the face of the popular verdict- and since we are talking about democracies here, at their best even the winners- whomever they may be- are more the leaders than the winners.
Now the Conservative total is up to 98. The combined Liberal-NDP majority is now only one.
I despise the attitude of most Canadians toward the war in Iraq. I believe that Canada's law on homosexual "marriage" is a travesty on the values of Western civilization, and the Canadian abortion law, no less than ours, is a disgrace.
But in a curious sort of way, I still look with admiration to our neighbors in the North. Though I strongly question the wisdom of their decision tonight- and of many of the decisions they have made recently- in many ways they give us Americans a marvelous example of what a democracy might and should be. I hope we learn from it.
I like their system. As unpopular as this statement might be among American right-of-center bloggers, I like the parliamentary system much better than ours. It's more responsive, for one thing. A government cannot presume upon its mandate, and the great issues of the day can bring about an election when the country needs it, not merely when the calendar says it's time to vote again.
For the past three elections, there has been no single Conservative opposition to the Liberal government. That changed eight months ago, when the Western Reform Party and the corpse of the old Progressive Conservative Party united to form the Conservative Party of Canada. As of this moment, it has captured 97 seats, to become the official Opposition to Prime Minister Paul Martin's Liberals, which are forming a minority government, presumably with the informal help of the far-Left New Democratic Party's 21.
Stephen Harper, the leader of the Conservative Party, deserves our congratulations. By all precident, soon- perhaps within the year- there will be another election. Hopefully Stephen Harper will emerge from that election as Prime Minister of Canada.
There is a great deal about the Canada of today I do not admire. I do not admire its institutionalized policy of legalized abortion, a blight upon any civilized society. I certainly do not admire its judicially- imposed institution of homosexual "marriage," the overthrow of two thousand years of the ethics of Western civilization on the issue at the behest of a few radical judges. We in the States can sympathize with that; judicial tyranny has proven, here as well as North of the border, the Achilles' heel of democracy.
The lack of rancor in the campaign concluded tonight is a rebuke to all of us in the States, but especially, I believe, to the Democrats- the Party of Hate, whose entire platform in this campaign is bitter, ugly spleen toward the President from whom they failed to steal Florida and the Electoral college in the last election. We can learn from our neighbors to the North in how free people can get along despite their disagreements and conflicts.
Yet at the same time, tonight's result is a reminder that there is no end to the campaign in democratic societies. The debate continues, even in the face of the popular verdict- and since we are talking about democracies here, at their best even the winners- whomever they may be- are more the leaders than the winners.
Now the Conservative total is up to 98. The combined Liberal-NDP majority is now only one.
I despise the attitude of most Canadians toward the war in Iraq. I believe that Canada's law on homosexual "marriage" is a travesty on the values of Western civilization, and the Canadian abortion law, no less than ours, is a disgrace.
But in a curious sort of way, I still look with admiration to our neighbors in the North. Though I strongly question the wisdom of their decision tonight- and of many of the decisions they have made recently- in many ways they give us Americans a marvelous example of what a democracy might and should be. I hope we learn from it.
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