Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

With 'em or against 'em

The Conservatives have their majority. They no longer have any excuse to act like schoolyard bullies. Yet they can't seem to stop.

Public Safety Minister Vic Toews has been the worst offender lately, demonizing anyone who dares criticize his policy. When the Opposition raised valid questions about the government's quiet directive to use information obtained by torture, Toews responded, "The NDP would not take appropriate action to ensure that the lives of Canadians were protected" in an emergency. "That is why those members are over there. They are not fit to be trusted with the security of Canadians."

As a veteran politician who spent six years on the other side of the House himself, Toews should be wary of ad hominem attacks based on a party's electoral fortunes. They could very well come back to haunt him.

This week, Toews moved on to legislation that will allow the state easier access to the private information of Canadians - the Protecting Children from Internet Predators Act. In response to a question from Liberal Francis Scarpaleggia about why Canadians should trust the government to only use these powers for their stated purpose, Toews went on the offensive again, saying Scarpaleggia "can either stand with us or with the child pornographers."

George W. Bush might have believed that the world was divided into those who were with him and those who were with the terrorists, but the reality was always more nuanced. The question of what to do with intelligence of questionable origins is one that reasonable, good-hearted people can debate.

The same is true of the question of how much access police should have to online information without a warrant. If Toews is sure of his ground, he could have simply articulated his arguments and let them stand on their merits. His choice to reduce the debate to insults suggests that the government's policies on torture and Internet snooping are not as unassailable as the Conservatives pretend.

The instinct to demonize civil libertarians is a dangerous one, since many Conservative voters value freedom highly. The Conservatives seemed to acknowledge as much when they killed the mandatory long-form census.

This is the same government fighting to lock people up for significant sentences for minor crimes. Maintaining an uneasy tension between the freedom-loving side of the Conservative party and the lock-em-up side might be a successful political strategy, but it makes for lousy policy.

Original Article
Source: ottawa citizen 
Author: --  

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