Monday, February 17, 2014

Stephen Harper and the Shadow of the Police State



He has committed so many crimes against Canada and his values it's hard to list them all, let alone categorize them. 

But without a doubt his worst crime is his never-ending assault on our democracy.

And in that regard nothing he has done is as sinister as his plan to suppress the vote with his new so-called Fair Elections Act.

For what makes it so sinister is that it is so deliberate, and it is leading us into dangerous territory.

A participant in the bruising American battle over voting rights warns that Canada is treading on dangerous ground with its proposed electoral reforms. 

One of the lawyers who helped strike down the voter ID law in Pennsylvania last month says legislation tabled by the Harper government will inevitably wind up depriving some people of their voting rights.

It's the kind of thing the white racists in the American south  used to do to keep blacks from voting. It's that despicable. 

And what makes it even worse is the way the Harperite cult is trying to muzzle the Chief Electoral Officer, and prevent him from running ads encouraging Canadians, especially young ones to vote.



Claiming that all he should do is tell them how and where to vote, even though experts point out the real problem is the lack of motivation. 

Voting is easy," said André Blais, a professor at the Université de Montréal who studies elections, public policy and political behaviour. Blais has done research projects for Elections Canada. "The hurdles as such are not big. It’s really motivation that matters the most."

And since the Cons are ramming the voter suppression bill through Parliament, the problem we now face is how will we motivate those younger Canadians to get out and vote?

Because if we don't who will?

And then the question is how do you motivate them? What kind of video message do you need to get their attention?

So I did a little research and I came across a video from a group in Britain called Bite the Ballot.

It's made by British kids for British kids, but when I watched it I couldn't help thinking that it's the kind of ad we should be running here.

For the benefit of ALL Canadians...



Because that is Harperland. That is where we're going.

In a country where the Con regime is out of control, and is now using the instruments of the state against its political enemies. 

A country where the watchdogs are muzzled or toothless.

A federal watchdog is attracting howls of protest from some privacy and internet experts after absolving Canada’s electronic spy agency of using data from a Canadian airport internet service to track thousands of passengers for days after they left the terminal.

A country where far too many still believe it couldn't happen here.

And where if we are unable to convey the nature of the threat, and shock Canadians into mobilizing to defeat the Harper regime.

We will all wake up one day, in the shadow of a police state...



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2 comments:

David said...

What's so wrong with the Fair Elections Act?
http://thetyee.ca/Polls/2014/02/17/Fair-Election-Bill/

http://thetyee.ca/Polls/2014/02/17/Fair-Election-Bill/

http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2014/02/17/Fair-Elections-Act/

*

Video
http://thetyee.ca/Video/2014/02/14/elizabeth-may-in-the-house-on-fair-elections-act/

'The crisis in Canadian democracy is not that Canadians are voting more than once
but that they are voting less than once': -- Elizabeth May on Fair Election Act

e.a.f. said...

Elizabeth May wins for best comment on the F.E.Act!