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Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Make a Fuss!
When I was collecting signatures for my nomination to be a candidate for the Conservative Party, I struck up a conversation in a downtown Toronto park with a man who had lived in Hungary when it was under communist rule. I asked him if there was a big difference between living under communism and here in a free country. He shrugged his shoulders and told me, “Not really, if you just went about your day, and didn’t make a fuss, it was just like Canada.” I found the “didn’t make a fuss” part most disturbing. His remark has really hit home for me ever since this past Sunday when I was trotted out in the mainstream press as a gun-totin’ nut job.
That’s what the liberal establishment and mainstream media in this country want us individual Canadians to do - not make a fuss, be compliant with their “consensus” and don’t “offend” regardless of reality or the facts on a subject:
1. Government rationed healthcare is sacred;
2. Human Rights Commissions, the CRTC and the Canadian Broadcasting Act must control what Canadians think to avoid offending;
3. Free enterprise must be regulated to serve a vague “national interest”;
4. Canadians cannot be left to their own devices to help themselves or one another.
The list of their established world view can go on. They want us to shut the hell up and let the elites do their thing. For some it is far easier to not make a fuss.
One of the defining principles of conservatism is based on the suspicion of power and human nature. It is why government must be limited in its reach because humans have flaws. Political parties won’t do it on their own. The only ones who can keep government limited are individual Canadians, by making a fuss.
So make a fuss!
Posted by Chris Reid on September 24, 2008 in Current Affairs | Permalink
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Comments
Right on Chris. My parents come from Poland and have no shortage of tales of how Canada is little different in some ways than communism. The words of Nikita Khrushchev ring loud and clear "Communism will come to America, and you will never have saw it coming"
Posted by: Condor | 2008-09-24 8:18:57 PM
"Communism will come to America, and you will never have saw it coming"
Posted by: Condor | 24-Sep-08 8:18:57 PM
And in a general sense this applies to Canada as well.
http://www.libertyzone.com/Communist-Manifesto-Planks.html
What the people who advocate more government, more control and more compliance to empty laws don't realize, is that it is Communism.
Posted by: JC | 2008-09-24 8:38:24 PM
Damn right make a fuss, when you can't make a fuss you're a subject who is ruled.
Posted by: Pete | 2008-09-24 8:41:32 PM
I've done some digging, and I can't find anything you've said that isn't common sense. You've said out loud what so many of us are afraid to say. I'm very dissappointed with Mr. Harper for not backing you up.
I find myself hoping that there is a secret agenda. I hope Mr Harper still holds some of Preston Mannings positions on things like immigration. Imagine, having to play possum to get elected. What a messed up country.
Posted by: dp | 2008-09-24 8:47:05 PM
dp,
Where I share your sentiments, I have come to discover a sad realization.
Harper, with a majority, is not going to do ANYTHING to jeopardize a probable Tory dynasty in Ottawa. Oh sure, he'll target a conservative pet peave or two to keep the core of support strong, but the rest will be focussed on staying in power.
To often fold in the face of political correctness and to be ready to throw anyone who scratches the Tory paint under the bus are not qualities I was expecting to see in Mr.Harper.
Be prepared for Liberal-lite.
As for this country being in trouble....
North America is in trouble until we find a way to reintroduce morality, honesty and honor to the party system(the MSM too).
Chris, I'm sure you've just learned a painful lesson about politics.
What say you about "fixing" the system?
Posted by: Canadian Observer | 2008-09-24 9:21:34 PM
Canadian Observer,
Shouldn't their priority be changing the entire system from the inside out? You can't simply shock the entire bureaucracy into being right-leaning. It takes time.
The Liberals didn't turn Canada into the big government loving nation that it is overnight. They had the benefit of almost an entire century of ruling.
Yes, everything Chris said was on the mark. But the "general public" (read: the Toronto Star reading public) isn't ready. They've vilified any conservative or right-leaning ideologue, just as the American right has managed to make "liberal" a slur.
Patience my friends...
Step One: Let's start by calling a "surplus" what it is: over-taxation. Now we can stop being fixated on always having a surplus.
Posted by: Glen | 2008-09-24 11:20:54 PM
Spot on Chris. I can also confirm that every person who experienced living under communism and to whom I have spoken has said the same thing. As long as you did not rock the boat, you actually often had more freedom than here. That says a lot and it is sad to see how we have squandered our inheritance of freedom.
Posted by: Alain | 2008-09-25 12:17:30 AM
I do not agree with the comparison between Canada and a former Communist country such as Poland or such others. There is a vast difference in which the Communist regime of the Soviet Union excercised censorship to the way our present government works. Agreed, there is brainwashing, there is propaganda, there are elements designed to pull us one way or another, but that is an element of any political regime, whether you're talking about a liberal democracy or an authoritarian regime. The difference is we, as citizens, can chose to make a difference in this society, as opposed to the former Soviet Union, where protest was answered with the firing of guns. I would argue, insstead, that even though the government may be excercising certain priviledges it shouldn't to stay in power (this is true of ALL Canada's parties, especially the Conservatives), it is up to the people to respond according to their interests, and the fact that no one does anything despite their pisgivings shows the lack of enthusiasm of the people to engage with their society and make changes. You may all complain as much as you want. Talk is talk. But if you all don't do something active to change things instead of blaming everything on the government, then I consider the points made above hollow, with the exception of one: make a fuss. You should act on your principles, but the key is ACTION, as opposed to bitching about a regime on a blog.
Posted by: Marco | 2008-09-25 9:12:25 AM
Marco, you make a valid point but you also confirm what others have stated. No one said that the one accused of "crimes against the state" is treated in the same way. True we do not use firing squads or ban people to a gulag, but the end result here is not pretty. How many victims of our people's courts (HRCs) have had their lives totally ruined? Yes ruined, financially and emotionally with their reputation totally destroyed.
I do agree that as a people we are guilty of complacence and indifference concerning the loss of our liberty and freedoms, and that in the end we get the type of government we merit.
Posted by: Alain | 2008-09-25 12:01:26 PM
More Libertarian nonsense. Gawd I am sick of it. I was in the USSR in 1990 and Canada is nothing like it.
So some guy took Ezra to the HRC-is he in jail?? NOOO will he go to jail for the cartoons?? NO!!
Man you people talk out your ass on the issue of freedom.
If this were Cuba or N Korea or China this blog would not even exist.
Wake up folks and stop this silliness.
Posted by: Merle Terlesky | 2008-09-25 12:27:26 PM
Right on Marco. I go to these rallies and I have yet to see Ezra ever at one.
When the peaceniks rally against our troops we go there and counter them. I dont see any of you folks there.
All I see is a bunch of people safely blogging and such.
Richard Evans comes out, but the rest of you rant on and on.
Posted by: Merle | 2008-09-25 12:30:13 PM
That's not fair merle. Many of us are pro-active. I threw a beer bottle at soharwardy's motorhome on the trans-Canada just last month.
Posted by: dp | 2008-09-25 12:46:55 PM
Poor Merle will cut off his nose to spite his face due to his obsessive hatred for Ezra Levant. I did not include Ezra Levant, nor Mark Steyn, nor Macleans among those whose lives have been ruined by the HRCs. Far too many without the means and know-how to be able to take on these people's courts are living examples.
As for knowing what the "rest of us" do besides blogging about the situation, you, Merle, have not the least clue.
Posted by: Alain | 2008-09-25 1:58:20 PM
More Libertarian nonsense. Gawd I am sick of it. I was in the USSR in 1990 and Canada is nothing like it.
So some guy took Ezra to the HRC-is he in jail?? NOOO will he go to jail for the cartoons?? NO!!
Man you people talk out your ass on the issue of freedom.
If this were Cuba or N Korea or China this blog would not even exist.
Wake up folks and stop this silliness.
Posted by: Merle Terlesky | 25-Sep-08 12:27:26 PM
Obnoxious Rude and Ignorant as usual.
You don't think Levant's been punished just becaue he isn't in jail? You think the HRC's are doing a fine job I take it?
You sir, are the one who needs to wake up.
If we keep going the way we are....we'll wake up soon in the Peoples Republic of Canada...where I'm sure you will be very useful.
Posted by: JC | 2008-09-25 4:00:36 PM
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