Jeffery Simpson,
This is all well put and true, but you are missing something here.
People are upset with the Liberals for two reasons.
One, a totally predictable reason I pointed out long before the election, is that Dion, a thoroughly decent man, has been stubbornly determined to repeat John Tory's principled-but inappropriate stand on religious-school funding.
Dion's Don Quixote act is compounded by the fact that the immense pressures and quick pace of a political campaign is definitely not the time to bring forward a major, complex new policy.
Campaigns are about slogans, one-liners, quips, not complex analysis of policy proposals. I wish it were otherwise - then we would have meaningful public debates on important matters - but it is not, and going against that reality is truly the stuff of Don Quixote.
The other reason, and for me the more important one, is that the Liberals are responsible for keeping that living corpse, Harper, at center stage long enough for a number of people to get used to the reality. People do get used to almost anything if it is around long enough.
The Liberals cannot put this blame on the NDP, they are the opposition.
Perhaps it could not be otherwise after the fiasco of Paul Martin who tore the party apart over his personal ambition and who proved an inept figure when troubles hit. No matter what else anyone may say of Chretien, he was the most gifted politician of his era. He had a wonderful touch and, on most big questions, he stood on the right side.
There are many things about the NPD I do not like. Many of them as types remind me of earnest bird watchers or boy scouts. There is too much over-used boiler plate language from them also, striking my ears like dreary slogans from officialdom.
Jack Layton does largely manage to escape both of these unappealing NDP characteristics - shared even by his very able wife - except when he keeps repeating "the kitchen table rather than the board room table." Ugh.
I do admire Jack for his position on Afghanistan, admire him strongly. He is right, Harper and the weasel-like (on this matter) Liberals are wrong. We are killing our soldiers, and more importantly, occupying someone else’s country, for no good reason.
Just being there also begins to color our society with the tones of the ugly, divisive jingoism of America: support our troops, yellow ribbons, and other non-think about a deadly and unethical situation.
We are only there because the previous government felt “we owed one to the Pentagon.” But the Pentagon itself does not truly know why it is there nor does it have any genuine idea of when it should leave. A recent report is being kept secret until after the American election which paints the situation as “grim.”
It is grim because America is trying to do what cannot be done, change the thinking and habits of an ancient and backward society. They would have been much further ahead dropping dollar bills rather than bombs, but that just ain’t the American way.
If America insists on insane behavior – just as with their mortgage-lending structure – there is no reason Canada must follow.
Jack also has stood out on a couple of other issues, including the Conservatives’ frequently unethical behavior.
Jack offers a good place to park a protest vote, and that’s just what many are doing.
Anyone but Harper
