willy

Careful what you wish for. For the last fifty years we have had a continually centralized power base. It now resides in the Prime Ministers Office. This is obviously not new news. What you are advocating is less check and balance and less democracy. And I thought MaCarthy was a wack job but maybe socialism does lead to communism. Well I sure am glad to have a provincial government because under out representative system BC might not even have roads if it was left up to the PMO in the last ten years. After the cuts that Martin made to Health and Education transfers we are lucky to have hospitals and schools. More power to the provinces might be a good think. We need foreign policy, military, and justice. These are the things best left to the Feds.

Maplesyrup: You can’t think that Layton is the man. He does go against the grain, and wants to fight business, the provinces, and the Americans. Help us all if he is successful. His latest mess of an idea has been to set tariffs on our own energy before it goes to the states as a pressure mechanism for trade talks. I don’t even know where to start with what is wrong with that. I look forward to him getting a lot of press and being examined. Some people you don’t have to discredit, you just have to give them a rope and they will hang themselves.

Goldie: I can’t disagree about the first few points. I think I said that but I guess it didn't come across. First off I am a Christian. Second off as I Christian I can state that I would not hold myself up over anyone else as a model of morals. Please don’t put our Christian politicians in that light. It doesn’t do our government, our faith or our country any good. Let’s focus on policy and then decided if you like their policy or the parties policy. Evaluate how trustworthy an individual is but again don’t look at their faith. Their record in business and public life should be what we use as an indicator of personal ethical behaviour.

This is my understanding of Christian theology and how it has played out in my life. Christians believe the world is fallen. One capitalism and socialism are benign. The problem comes from the people that run the systems. Each is about power and who gets the power. As the old saying goes power corrupts. One the worker gets the money and the other is the capitalist. Christians believe it is all about God, and we behave like it is all about us. The third way would be to serve others, be it your boss or employee, and do so to honor God. You asked for the biblical view: We are called to be in the world and not of the world. Christianity is about the need for redemption, the need for God’s grace and the salvation found in that grace. The gospel summarized would be something like this, ”We are all worse than we could possibly imaging and deserving of God judgment, but God loved us so much he gave his Son for us so we would not have to pay that price.” The death of Christ was so brutal and in the end it was him dieing and being separated from God at death that set all people free. It is then open to all who are called by God to accept his displeasure and his grace. When Christ left after the resurrection he said he left his sprit to guide us. It is the sprit that transforms Christians and not the effort or deeds. In political terms, laws are needed to keep evil at bay as it is a reality.

Pellaken: You need to read what I wrote and not what you thought. Many strong leaders have come from all regions of our country. Western alienation is not about wanting out but, and Preston said it best “we want in.” I will be disenfranchised because my point of view will not be represented. I don’t have a radical point of view. Unlike Belinda, I think government has a bigger role than just stimulating the economy and training workers for the economy. Unlike Tony, I don’t think having laid siege to the Ontario health system has prepared him to be PM. These two candidates are not building unity as they might claim but rather they are branding the CA as not tolerant and like an old uncle that has to be put up with. This offends me. Democratic principles were core to the emergence of the Reform and then CA. I trust no one would disagree that we need a little more accountability in Ottawa and it might be a shame to let some of these ideas die. (E.g. PM appoint elected senators, parliamentary committees appoint judges, fixed elections and some kind of MP recall)

Why one position must vilify the other is beyond me. I trust my friends that take a socialist view on the world do it because they think it will do good in society. It is a shame that a number of socialists don’t realize that it is not greed and corruption that make up the conservative political ideology but a belief that the world works in certain ways. The government has a role to facilitate a better life for everyone but it is not in the power of government to demand compliance to an ideology. Having individual responsibility for ones life is not evil. A pluralistic democracy should respect all political points of view that are base on social good. Campbell and Bush are very different and don’t need comparing. I could do the same and compare Layton to Castro but it would not be fair to either. We have Canadian politicians in a Canadian context. Even the Reform Party stood for universal health care! Be realistic and pragmatic. I don’t believe that my ability to pay taxes is limitless. One also has to realize that the businesses that occupy our province don’t need to be here. Focus on out comes. I believe that the NDP and the Liberals probably would agree on a number of those. And we need a healthy debate on what might bring about some of those shared values. (E.g. universal education, access to quality health care, equality, jobs, freedom of religion, public safety, a healthy environment.) Gordon Campbell is a good man and has been a public servant for many years. You might not like his policy but you have a choice. You can be political and sell your ideas and get elected or get someone else elected to carry those ideas forward. This is a democracy and it is a flawed system, but it is the best system we have and the second best system is much worse. I am first a populist then a conservative. It is not just about holding power. One should want to do something with it.

I am very nervous about the lack of sensitivity that both Belinda and Tony have for western issues. Most of the members of the CPC are westerners and they are not speaking to us. I want a party that can meet the unique demands for all parts of Canada. It has been part of our political history with both the ruling parties in this country to rule from Toronto out and pay off Quebec. We need a new way in which the federal government sticks to it’s jurisdiction and adequately transfers to the provinces the resources to take care of there responsibilities. I will personally be disenfranchised if the Ontario candidates win.

The BC Liberals are governing with the largest majority in provincial history. Good news for them. If they slip they are still in power. They have one more year left before an election. This is the good news side of the mandate and minds are short in politics. Look for a little more noise and then a strong team closer to the election. All these Liberals want to be reelected and a second in command is not nibbling at Gordon’s feet. I am thankful they are doing the tough work of undoing the mess 10 years of NDP rule left. I wish it could be done quickly but it is much easier to destroy than it is to build. They have restructured the health regions. They have eliminated needless regulations. They have cut personal income taxes and replaced them with user fees. They have cut the size of government. They have maintained a steady economy during SARS, BSE, Fires, Floods, softwood lumber, and a world wide downturn. I wish them the best success because our province needs it. It is easy to be a critic but it is hard to govern.