Friday morning meanderings

Last night, I said that I am leaning toward spoiling my ballot as a protest vote against the Tories' Liberal-lite brand of status quo, big-government "conservatism". If Harper would speak more like this, and follow through, it would result in this, the benefits of which cannot be denied, and I would be 100% on board. However, there is another issue that needs to be addressed, and that is how to punish the Liberals.

Don't get me wrong. I have a lot of affection for certain Liberals, who I know love Canada, work hard for their constituents, and are in Parliament for all the right reasons. However, the way this campaign has been run lead me to draw three conclusions:

1. The Liberal party apparatus takes voters for granted. They also think voters are stupid. I don't. They think that all you have to do is wrap yourself up in the Charter and all of the scandals and gaffes will be forgiven. Finally, with the new ads they're putting forward which have a contrite Paul Martin obviously reading off cue cards but admitting that the government has not been perfect, they're realizing that the path to power is not to insult the intelligence of the Canadian electorate. I think it's too late, though.

2. They think that Canada could not possibly continue to exist without the Liberal party in office. Some Liberals truly believe that children would be dying in emergency rooms, that women who decide to terminate their pregnancy would be made criminals, or that those who are not native-born Canadians would be considered second-class if anyone other than their party would be in power. Nonsense. Canada will continue to be a great country because of the people who inhabit it, not because of the bloated and inefficient state apparatus. The co-opting of Canadian symbols like the flag by the Liberal party is offensive in the extreme. What's more is that they treat anyone who dares disagree with their orthodoxy as a social leper. Read Charlie Cook for his take on this. It applies fully to Canada. (I certainly am guilty of cranking up the rhetoric myself, but I'm not exactly Susan Murray.)

3. The duplicitousness of what they do. Martin treats the Charter as sacrosanct and paints anyone who disagrees with same-sex marriage, for example, as a shill for the US far right. However, remember: The Parliamentary Secretaries to the three biggest portfolios in government - Finance, Foreign Affairs and Public Safety - all voted against same-sex. Moreover, every single Scarborough MP voted against same sex as well. The dishonesty is appalling.

All together, what the Liberal party apparatus does to hold on to power has a massively corrosive effect on the political culture of our country. By lowering the standard of debate, it turns people off. That is completely unhealthy for Canada's future. If we stay on this track, the only people who will be attracted to political participation and activism, then, will be the loud, shrill and excessively partisan, and not those who really want to participate just because they think it's an honourable calling.

This is not to exonerate any other party. However, in my view, it is the Liberal brand above the others which is losing more and more integrity each and every day. I think it's time to put them on the opposition benches so that those good Liberals can take their party back from those who have allowed it to slide down into a black hole of sleaze.

They should be punished.