They're Eating the Dogs...

Original image source unknown

"They're eating the dogs!"

"They're eating the cats!"
Exclaimed the Orange Grinch,

 who

   was

     crazy

Like the shit of a bat.

He shouted it far

He shouted it wide

Though Hooey the Parrot

  had 

    already

      said,

"I might could have lied."

"But it's okay to lie

If attention you crave,"

Said Hooey sheepishly,

  with a

    straight

      face

In his own weirdly way.

But the Mayor of Whoville

Was not so impressed,

When the Orange Grinch

  kept 

    on

      going

And his town was distressed

But the people of Whoville

Knew it all wasn't true

And with every new lie,

  they

    saw

      red

And they all turned to blue.

So long, Jack

I campaigned for Canada's New Democratic Party (NDP) as a teenager, in the riding then held by Liberal Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau. Our big breakthrough was getting slightly more than 2% of the vote.

Over the years, my political orientation shifted to the right, but I always had a special place in my heart for the party whose members once sported buttons that said "My heart is on the left." Earlier this year, I even voted for them for the first time in 27 years, and I did so primarily because of the party's charismatic leader, Jack Layton. Hell, I didn't even know the name of the local candidate until I saw it on the ballot, and promptly forgot it until she was declared elected.

Jack Layton accomplished two things in that election that nobody expected. The party that had been struggling for a breakthrough in Quebec for decades took 59 of 75 parliamentary seats in the province, sending the separatist Bloc Quebecois, which had dominated federal politics in Quebec for two decades, to oblivion.

Largely because of that accomplishment, the NDP became the Official Opposition for the first time in its history. The future was brighter than it had ever been for the NDP and the man who had become the most popular politician in Canada.

Then, earlier this summer, he confidently told Canadians that he would be back when he stepped down from the party's leadership to battle cancer (which he had beaten once before), and few doubted that he would be.

Jack Layton died this morning.

As far as I can see, Jack may have been the last of his kind in Canadian politics; that is, leaders who are in it not for the money or the prestige or the favours they can hand out, but for what they believe in and the hope of achieving a brighter future. In my lifetime, I can think of only three others who merit membership in this club: Pierre Trudeau, Rene Levesque, and the NDP's own Ed Broadbent.

Today, my condolences go out not only to Jack's family and friends, but to all Canadians - regardless of our political leanings, we have all lost a national treasure today.

So long, Jack. We will miss you.

Two days before his death, Jack Layton wrote this letter to Canadians.

Elections, eh?

I'm sure that to most Americans, the only thing more boring than Canada is Canadian elections, and that's quite understandable. While Americans took the great step forward of electing their first black president in the last presidential election, we Canucks now have the opportunity of taking the great step sideways of re-electing a man with all the charisma of a piece of wood, or replacing him with another man with all the charisma of a piece of wood.

This differs from the last election in that we had a different another man with all the charisma of a piece of wood, and the previous one in that we had yet another different another man with all the charisma of a piece of wood. Of course we do have two major parties with radically different platforms - one, if re-elected, will take our money to benefit their friends in big oil, while the other, if elected, will take our money to benefit their friends in, well, just their friends.

Where Americans had to decide based upon the great issues of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, public health care, and saving millions of people's homes from foreclosure, we have to decide based upon the great issues of whether we will pay more taxes or pay more taxes, whether a major urban bridge should fall down sooner or later, and saving some members of Parliament (what we call Congress) from receiving a lifetime pension after only two years in office.

Americans get to see their politicians caught (literally) with their pants down in things like the blue dress scandal; the most exciting thing that has happened in the personal life of Canadian politicians in the last ten years was when a poor little rich girl dumped both her boyfriend and her party to accept a cabinet post from the other party, in what can only be termed the pinstripe slumber. Ironically, she lost her seat (if not her pants) in the next election when her new party went down to defeat, which is the only kind of going down that happens in Canadian politics.

Our good neighbours have presidential elections every four years that last for two years; we have federal elections every two years that last for about a month, which most of us find way too long. The longest-serving party leader is still known primarily for how silly he once looked in a hairnet while visiting a cheese factory, some 14 years after it happened.

American presidential candidates have included war heroes, movie stars, activists, lawyers, peanut farmers, and more; our Prime Ministerial candidates have included lawyers, lawyers, lawyers, lawyers, lawyers, and more lawyers. No wonder we keep getting screwed. And overbilled.

I guess these contrasts are what you get when you compare a country based on life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness with one based on peace, order, and good government. Oh well, two out of three ain't bad.

A Thimble of Difference?

In response to Leon's, America (pronounced "Ah-mur-ri-cah") 

So, the Republicans have kicked some Democrat butt by taking control of the House of Representatives and closing the deficit in the Senate.  Obama referred to the Republican gains in these mid-term election as a shellacking.  John Boehner will take over as Speaker of the House after Americans effectively fired Nancy Pelosi, changing not only the leadership of the House of Representatives, but changing the political playing field altogether as conservatives will surely challenge Obama's policies and both past and future legislation.  And why am I couching this in such competitive terms?  Because I'm watching the Dolphins lose to the Ravens.  Dang.

One thing I'm sure you've noticed about American politics is that it is very competitive.  I don't just mean between the politicians either, but between every American that follows politics. We're not just liberals, conservatives, moderates, libertarians, socialists (what, you didn't think there were socialists in the U.S.?) or whatever you like to call your political persuasion, we're also fans of a political party; Democratic, Republican, Libertarian, Socialist (and yeah, there is a Socialist Party) or whatever political party you like to party with.  And the smack talk?  What you might hear at your local sports bar pales in comparison to the smack you hear around the water cooler during an election cycle. Yeah, one could consider politics a sport, and full contact, at that.

That's too bad, too.  When I look back over the last decade in politics, I can't seem to find a whole lot of difference between the teams.  George W. grew the government by adding new federal agencies and expanding old ones.  He couldn't seem to say no to deficit spending and thought nothing of increasing entitlements.  When it comes down to it, W. wasn't much of a conservative, by most conservative's standards.  And then there's Obama who spends money much like...well...W.

Outside of the party's rhetoric, is there a thimble of difference between the two major parties?  I mean, there's a notable difference between the Tea Party and the Socialist Party (OK, I'm becoming redundant), but when you look back at the last decade can you tell a notable difference between the Republican and Democratic parties?  They both spend oodles of money and grow government.  The only difference that I can see is that Republicans spend a little less and grow government a little slower.  I guess Democrats are just more determined. 

I hope that the politicians do listen to the Americans that elected them, as Leon suggests in his aforementioned piece.  Will they?  Heck know!  They're politicians!  I hate to be so cynical, but after witnessing the past decade I expect more of the same.

Now, just a bit of a disclaimer; I'm expecting the worse, but hoping for the best.  I think the reason why our politicians pander the way they do to the voter is because, like their constituents, they think of politics as a competition, too.  It's about winning and losing, not about what's best for the nation.  Maybe this time things will be different.  It seems politicians understand that Americans don't like out-of-control spending and government expansion.  Maybe this time it won't be about who won the majority and more about actually representing the American people.  Maybe.

And as a side note; the Dolphins lost.  Dang.

America (pronounced "Ah-mur-ri-cah")

Image via Wikipedia

Yesterday Nancy Pelosi learned a valuable lesson: 

For good or ill (depending upon your social worldview) the Democratically-controlled Congress threw it's considerable weight behind President Obama's legislative agenda and paid the price for it.

Somewhere George W. Bush is laughing that weird laugh of his and singing the praises of his fellow "Ah-mur-ri-cahns" who fired Nancy Pelosi from her Speaker of the House gig and handed a bunch of Democrats their pink slips period. 

To whit, Nancy Pelosi's lesson:  Don't mess with average "Ah-mur-ri-cahns." 

The average American (I'll assume you have the correct pronunciation down now) is not amused when they are talked down to by a politician. 

The average American can't stand arrogance in their leaders. 

And the average American isn't thrilled with the idea that they have to live within their means or the "take-back-man" will come repo their crap, but the federal government can just spend like there's no tomorrow.  

When Nancy Pelosi was asked what her agenda was when Obama became President, she asserted the following hardcore liberal items:  strengthen the economy, end the Iraq war, expand health care, create jobs. 

Honestly, each one of those sounds pretty damn good to me.

Unfortunately, the Democrats fell prey to the very thing that they decried in the Republicans who ran everything when W was in the Big House:  Pride.

Memo to politicians...  Just because you happen to win an election doesn't give you the right to assume you have a corner on the market when it comes to what the average American is thinking.  In order to know that you have to actually listen. 

Pelosi & Co. at Obama's behest moved with lightning speed when it came to a health care reform bill that is now proving to be not what it was purported to be in the first place.  They moved with the speed of mud when it came to ending the war in Iraq. 

They didn't listen to former President Clinton who had some really good ideas on how to get the economy moving and instead landed us deeper in debt and farther in the hole.  The only jobs they created were government jobs because they forgot that the government can't really create jobs... the marketplace creates jobs and the only way for the marketplace to create jobs is when things like small businesses are growing and expanding because they are free from exorbitant taxes and mountains of regulation and because banks were encouraged to lend to them. 


And the entire time they were doing this, average Americans were telling them that they were screwing it up.  But because they had a "mandate" Pelosi & Co. ignored them. 


And now they are crying in their beer.  And cursing the average American for being too stupid to know what's good for them.  And vowing like Senator Harry Reid (who basically had to cash in every favor he'd ever earned from NV union bosses to keep his seat) to keep "fighting."


So here's my message to the Republicans who seem to have ridden that wave and who also seem to be taking way too much credit where credit isn't due... 


Listen to the average American, my friend.  Or the average American will rise up and kick your a--

Related articles

• Nancy Pelosi: Speaker of the House No More (freedomeden.blogspot.com)
• Is This the End of Nancy Pelosi? (newser.com)
• Nancy Pelosi probably deserved better than this (salon.com)