How Come liberals do a better job?
There's a certain weird irony to be found in the political cycle that vacillates back and forth between Liberal/Conservative/Democrat – or liberal/conservative rule.
When Paul Martin was Finance Minister in Ottawa, he and J.C. (Jean Chretien), took the Liberal Party to the right, cut spending, maintained a decent tax base, eliminated the deficitand started to pay down the national
debt. In other words the Liberals, generally speaking, took a "conservative" approach. (Bill Clinton did pretty much the same thing).
Now…8 years of Conservative government in Washington and elsewhere, including a few in Ottawa have devastated the economy…lost jobs, lost homes, lost health care coverage, lost retirement savings, caused
environmental degradation …and the list goes on. And now these "Conservatives" are attempting to solve these problems by profligate spending. Go figure.
So how come? What gives with this weird pattern? What's the difference between Liberals and Conservatives?
The conclusion can only be that Liberals/liberals/Democrats/New Democrats actually think.
could be that it’s about voters. Thinking…not so sure about that! We seem to have turned into a nation of “what’s in it for me? screw the others” voters.
I have the feeling that Ignatieff will bring the Liberals back to power.
Back to my personal theory about Canada following trends in the USA in the big political scale if not necessarily in the small and vitally important regional ones… they got a hugely charismatic leader right now, packaged with a promise of flexibility and hope (we’ll have to see how that factors in with Obama but I’m still hopeful in the guarded sense).
We do not have that flexibility and hope factor at all. We have Mr. “Stay the Course” and screw everyone else, unless he’s cornered in a very public way and only then does he play ball, and everyone (including his supporters) knows he’s doing it only due to pressure, not because he based his party’s stance on an initial political atmosphere of supposed flexibility.
Simplified view – jealously will kick in for the majority of Canadians, I predict… count on Canada wanting something more exciting and theoretically flexible politically than what we have. We damn well need it!
Evidemment on en a besoin!! Beaucoup!!
Our Country has been going sideways for quite a while now and I don’t think either the Conservatives or the Liberals are paying attention to what’s really going on. Our Social Fabric is coming apart at the seams and I can site you many signs of this but I don’t want to get off track of the article. Personally, I feel, that America is America no matter who is in the White House. Their foreign policies have been flawed and corrupt for way too long and ours are becomming that way fast. The same powerfull lobbyists will be doing the same lobbying but the Dems are just nicer about things globally so the image will be better swallowed. George Bush could never have gotten away with what he got away with if the Dems or the people themselves would have stood up and said NO. It was wrong, period. Everybody Knows, as Len Cohen said.
Our Gordon Campbell’s right wing policies have all but destroyed B.C.’s reputation as far as empathy and social programs for children, homeless, pensioners, etc. and the R.C.M.P. have had their budget slashed so many times that they are suffering from stress, depression, and understaffing, and it’s resulting in things like Robert Picton, and taser deaths abundant. Bullying and beating up “brown people” as well out here. The sending back of Americans who did not want to join in with the murdering spree in Iraq was another disgusting peg in our fabric, at least for me. It’s like saying Canada agree’s with your invasion of Iraq. Where did our “Balls” go?
Jim, I still feel the same way about Ignatieff as both of us felt before, but I know that Jack’s day is over by the way he has been harpooned continually by the Media.
Some of the policies, though, are worth looking at and perhaps a charismatic leader could see them presented in a better light.
Something needs to change.
Sherry, is anyone paying attention? I don’t think so.
The Tories and Grits are playing their games, and Layton is only concerned about his coalition and a cabinet post.
Where are the grand ideas for the future? How about free and open-access post-secondary education (and vocational training) for everyone?
This is the 21st century — the era of the “knowledge society and economy”. What are we doing to produce our own “knowledge workers”?
Nada. Zilch. Zippo.
Yes I agree with all of the above. I was saying that Ignatieff is good or that my basic feeling about him has changed…it’s just that he appears to have thought things through in a strategic way that seems toi have escaped Harper’s wizened brain, along with the ex-harrisites, including the pathetic Finance Minister.
I do happen to think that Liberals abd Democrats are more thoughtful people…but you’re right…they are still trapped in the same old cycle and public apathy prefers the status quo to real change.
Nevertheless I am hopeful that things will indeed improve in the long run.
Jim, as someone who is a small-c conservative and small-l liberal (in the classical sense of the word) at heart, depending on the issues, I can tell you that I am very impressed with Ignatieff’s performance to date, and I actually hope he’ll have a chance to demonstrate his leadership and political skills to us from 24 Sussex.
I guess my feeling is that anyone would be better than what we have right now.
No Paul Martin and Jean Creatian did not maintain a decent tax bracket. Single people making 1200$ a month were left paying $400 in federal tax. Secondly when in power the Liberals cut spending to low rental housing. Then there is the billion dollar boondogle, the money that was suppose to go to Human Resources. I think Paul Martin is Canada’s anwer to George Bush.
I’m not saying that everything Martin and Chretien did was right or even humane…just that they took a hard-nosed, conservative-style approach to the economy.
Their approach was very hard on a number of areas, including healthcare, but their right wing, conservative policies did keep the economy in general in a healthy state.
Now if only we hadn’t ratcheted up the Afghanistan debacle, there’d be a few more billion around to play with.
Well I must admit we don’t have the ridiculously low taxes the Americans have and we do have universal health care.
I am now seeing the value of that universal health care programme as I pass through the “cataract” issue. My experience with the system in this regard has been more than satisfactory, even though I do not have a family doctor. I’m going to post something about that tomorrow.
My total personal outlay for the cataract treatment, including interim eyeglasses amounts to about $300.00.
An American friend of mine who went through precisely the same process as me, paid $5,673.00 even though he had private insurance which he had paid into for many years.
Every day of my life I give thanks for the pressure that Tommy Douglas put on the Liberal Government to implement this system.
Now – since i don’t have a family doctor – I want the various governments in this country to invest heavily – VERY heavily – in the education of more nurse practitioners. The stumbling block preventing the training of more NP’s is the influence of doctors’ associations.
The training of more nurse practitioners would not cost us a lot, but it would make
the quality of life for Canadians immensely better.
Americans are suffering because their political establishment never had people who really cared about ordinary people.