Kick at the Darkness

In a long campaign, this is the best part so far. The conservatives have shown their utter lack of a sense of humor and their general lack of understanding of blogs. Strangely, the incumbent 'culture-of-entitlement' crowed does.

Harper had a big day. The same sex marriage talk was a big deal. There are only a few possible explanations for this:

• Harper is a true believer and he would rather lose the election than give up on the issue. Admirable in a lot of ways, but electable in not so many;
• Harper is pulling a Karl Rove and working to 'rally the base', especially in the first part of a long campaign when fundraising is going to be extremely important; or
• He has not been paying attention for the last 6 months and is content to be the hero of southern Alberta and harbors no ambitions where occupying the PMO is concerned.

Layton pandered to the undergrad set at U of T.

I hope that Layton does not think that he can just promise to cut cheques. This has been the classic NDP mistake. The thing is, the good people of Canada can do math, and realize that if you promise eleventy gagillion dollars to everything (even if valid) you will run out of eleventies and gagillions.

The Bloc refused to run away from the PQ. The winning conditions are quickly becoming a huge issue. Unity has never really been an election issue (as I remember it), it was always a between-elections thing. It will interesting to see how that plays out.

The Greens got going today. The challenge is still going to be making the transition from 'raisers of the debate' to 'winners of the election'. Presumably, the full platform will help them more than most parties, who have already staked out most of their position during the minority.

Honesty, integrity and the 'culture of entitlement' are sure to be huge issues in the election. The fact is that they all of these issues have affected every party in power in every province and territory. They are not unique to the Liberals.
They are not even unique to politics.
When normal, fallible people are exposed to the chance to take a bunch of money, have their driveway done for free, or go out with women that they normally would not have a chance with they tend to take it. Humanity is fallible.
We have to fix the system, not the people in it. Changing the people will only go so far. Changing the system to make the piles of money disappear would do more than anything.
Ask the guy that knocks on your door how he will change the system, and not just how he will be different than 'those crooks in Ottawa'.

Politicians steal. It is not that they start out as bad people, but the big piles of money just lying around are usually too much to resist for too long. Therefore, when someone comes knocking on your door and says they his/her party will be the party of integrity if elected, call them on it. They won't be. No one is.

Ask them to change the system. Ask them to have parliamentary approval of senior gov't appointments. Ask them to put expense reports on the web. Ask them to have fixed election dates. Ask them to expose the government to the best disenfectant of all - sunlight.

After the non-confidence vote passes, there should be some sort of step where the esteemed GG asks the Leader of the Opposition (or anyone else) if the want to form a government. In short, the election should be avoided is possible. Of course, the Conservatives will not form a coalition government with the NDP or the Bloq, but the point is, the GG should take that step.

I really don't know if she will.

I guess that is what happens when you fail to write out your consitution, but instead rely on silly tradition.

The non-confidence vote is today. The outcome is a forgone conclusion, but everyone is acting like it is a big deal.

The fact is, the election started a couple of months ago, and this is just a minor landmark along the way.

I have been gone for far too long, but I am returning now. I have gotten back into writing again, including my pieces at officiating.com. Sorry for the hiatus.