It’s always in somebody’s best interest to promote enemies real or imagined. In the case of fascism, Hitler and Mussolini conjured up enemies of the state and used those imaginary enemies to grab power and hold onto it.
There’s a theory that Adolf Hitler’s power was ensured and guaranteed by the passive compliance of the government’s clerks, bookkeepers and civil servants. These employees of the state preferred to remain silent about the excesses of the German government, rather than stand up and expose Hitler for the tyrant he was.
A good public servant speaks truth to power.
Democracy is a fragile commodity. Once you have it, you need to work hard daily to preserve and protect it.
Just how fragile our own democracy is was demonstrated yesterday by the narowest of margins.
By a vote of 145-143, a majority of our elected representatives have ordered our government to produce uncensored documents, which Conservative M.P.’s have been trying to hide from public view. The documents of course are related to the possible torture of Afghans, who were arrested by Canada and handed over tothe Afghan Secret Police. Some of those detainees may have been criminals…others may have been innocent bystanders. All may have been exposed to torture and abuse.
The Canadian public needs to know what was done in our name.
Now – on the 61st anniversary of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights – and for the first time since this country elected a minority Conservative government, the Canadian Parliament has stood and has been counted…albeit just barely.
It’s not clear just how the documents will be released, but they will be released.
The rule of Canadian law is on the side of the majority and if necessary police can be called in to enforce the will of Parliament.
The Harper government argued that the national interest comes before partisan politics.
But Parliament’s legal department countered that the Canadian Constitution and its provisions ARE the national interest.
It’s time for all of us to wake up and recognize the thinness of the line that separates us from arbitrary rule.
“for the first time since this country elected a minority Conservative government, the Canadian Parliament has stood and has been counted…albeit just barely.”
Well, there were two votes that I know of, where parliament voted that American war resisters should be allowed to stay. And this government continues its aggressive policy of targeting them, poisoning their refugee hearings, and deporting them.
What I’ve learned is that this government sees parliament as an obstacle to governance, not a necessary tool for governance. It says a lot about them.
I’m wondering if there’s anything different about this particular motion…is it more binding than the others?