My political Rant.

For the good of the people of Canada is a great concept. But if they actually work together than why have different parties? To me that is a good question; the US have only 2 parties and we have 5. Down there they are either republican or democratic; which I guess means either capitalist or socialist leaning folks. What the definition between communism and socialism is probably a fine line. They are the dreams of folks to live in harmony where all is shared and everyone is equal, which I agree is a good concept. It seemed to work in the hippie communes, but didn't work so well in Soviet Russia. There, greed of the few with power totally corrupted the system and kept the masses poor while the few got more powerful and wealthy.

Unfortunately the reverse, capitalism, doesn't seem to work so well for the US. Yes, everyone has the chance to build themselves a secure financial life, but is is like a footrace where some folks start way ahead of others. In sports that levels the playing field, not so much in life. How W got elected, and then re-elected is an embarrassment to the US population. And then they swung the other way and elected a virtual unknown the next election! All that means is that big money controls the elections in the US. Backroom deals and subversion is commonplace in Washington. And when the US go on some sort of humanitarian tangent, that means only that there is something good in it for themselves.

And then we go to the 5 party Canadian political system. Like the US, I believe we started with 2 parties that mirror the US parties. Conservatives = Republicans and Liberals = Democrats. And I believe like the US we went from one party to the other, more or less, throughout our political history. How can the public elect one side in at one election, and in the space of a few years vote in the other side? Well I believe that when one sides wins and then does a shite job, the population naturally leans to the other party, which in their turn does a shite job and the population, instead of demandiing a better government, gets amnesia and votes in the previous shite party. And I think that eventually the main focus of both parties got closer and closer together over time.

Now in Canada, the NDP came about, offering to be more liberal than the Liberal party had become, to return to the values they once held precious. And of course they attracted their followers and voters. But everyone knew by then that socialism has never proved itself to work on a grand scale of a country. Sure it's a great idea in a village type setting or being shipwrecked on a island scenario. Again their concept was sound, but only the silly folks actually thought it could work.

Then came the Bloc party out of Quebec; a federal party with the goal of splitting the country apart if they get enough votes. How these guys were allowed to form a federal party is unbelievable, probably Trudeau fault. And why they even stay in the race is a mystery, they will never win! Although,,,, they were the official opposition for a while and had actual power over federal things. A dangerous group.

Then this Green party got formed with some sort of platform that promotes the environment above all else, or something; I like the majority of the country don't really care about them. Although, their redeeming value has been to force the big parties to include environmental policies in their platforms.

So the good part about our 5 parties is it mostly gives most folks a party to really believe in and vote for. The worst part is minority govt after minority govt. Folks are more or less wasting their votes on the 3 smaller parties. Yes, I know that some candinates get elected to be a MP, and go to Ottawa to rant and rave about something, and eventually form a serious drinking and Bare Fax addiction (or the male stripper bar above Bare Fax), they may not serve their poeple very well.
And a minority govt can't really put forward anything without at least 2 of the other parties teaming up against them.

I have no doubt that the PC will win the next election and that it will be another minority govt. If the Liberals could ever decide on an actual leader and offer a sensible converse political platform, then maybe they could win some time.
Which leads me to another point; the population of today are much more educated than our grandparents and even out parents. We have so much knowledge available that we form educated opinions about what is good for our country. So if we are offered 5 different styles or types of political leadership, we should be able to decypher all the election bull shite and vote in what we believe to be the best for the country. So why don't we? Is there really 5 types of personallities in this country? Being so intelligent, why do we continue to waste votes on the little 3 instead of voting for the big 2 and get this country a solid govt, supported by over half of the country? And then this doesn't give free reign to the winning party, because they have one strong party in parliment to question and oppose their motions, not 4 opposing for their own reasons or ganging up against them.

So I believe that there should be only 2 parties in Canada. But with very little to differentiate between our best educated population in history - how could they differ? I'm sure the majority of our population knows what is good for our country. Unfortunately, I'll end this lecture on a "I don't know". There will always be special interest groups and lobbyist, aka bribers and blackmailers, that will mess up the democratic system. And every election we get grand promises from the leaders to do actual change, and after everything is said and done, the status quo seems to take over and reign superior.
Knowing the collapse of the little 3 ain't going to happen anytime soon, I think that the sitting govt, with a majority win, will stay in power.
Sleep warm amigos,
Chris.