Stephen Harper and the Real Elitist Menace

As I pointed out yesterday, Stephen Harper has a new weapon in his arsenal to try to destroy Justin Trudeau.

He will not only claim that Justin wants to sell pot to kiddies.

And that he is a terrorist sympathizer, who is soft on criminals, including those who terrorized his own family.

He will also claim that he's a real HE-MAN and that Justin is a LIBERAL ELITIST !!!!

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has used the word "elite" repeatedly when referring to Trudeau and those around him, part of the narrative the party is building in advance of the 2015 election. 

 "You can listen to the liberal elites, and the liberal media pundits and liberal interest groups and you can hear the plan: tell Canadians there’s something new and exciting," Harper said Wednesday in Langley, B.C., referring to Trudeau.

And that unlike Himself, the demon child of Pierre Trudeau is out of touch with real Canadians...



Harper was more explicit when he talked about "Canada's unsung heroes": cab drivers, farmers, foresters, fishermen, factory and office workers, seniors, and any other "honest, decent, hardworking Canadians, old and new."

But sadly for Great Strong Desperate Leader the narrative just doesn't add up.

For starters, the only time "ordinary" Canadians ever get close to Stephen Harper is when they are lined up behind him at one of his many photo-ops like ducks.

Or parrots... 



And are usually too terrified to speak due to the presence of his army of sinister looking bodyguards, who he hides behind all the time.

Secondly, the only real job Harper ever had was in the mail room of Imperial Oil. The job his daddy gave him.

He spent most of his early life in the exclusive circle of right-wing think tanks. These days he hangs out in the company of millionaires.

He has often surrounded himself with Canada's upper crust, including millionaires Nigel Wright and Irving Gerstein in senior positions. Harper has also appointed wealthy Canadians to the Senate, such as Nicole Eaton, Linda Frum and David Braley.

And thirdly, it's not going to be easy to portray himself as more of a He-Man than Justin.

Not when he's a nerdy policy wonk, a chunky little man, with delusions of grandeur.

And not after what happened to his chosen Senator...



And could happen to him in the next election.

But here's the best part eh?

Harper is a disciple of Leo Strauss, the German American neoconservative God, and the darling of the so-called Calgary School where Harper was indoctrinated by a wacky bunch of right-wingers.

Including his former mentor Tom "Strangelove" Flanagan...



So you can imagine who was Leo Strauss...



Some critics of Strauss have accused him of being elitist, illiberalist and anti-democratic. Shadia Drury, in Leo Strauss and the American Right (1999), claimed that Strauss inculcated an elitist strain in American political leaders linked to imperialist militarism, neoconservatism and Christian fundamentalism.

Drury argues that Strauss teaches that "perpetual deception of the citizens by those in power is critical because they need to be led, and they need strong rulers to tell them what's good for them." 

Nicholas Xenos similarly argues that Strauss was "an anti-democrat in a fundamental sense, a true reactionary." As Xenos says, "Strauss was somebody who wanted to go back to a previous, pre-liberal, pre-bourgeois era of blood and guts, of imperial domination, of authoritarian rule, of pure fascism."

And doesn't that sound familiar?

Strong rulers, Christian fundamentalism, imperialist militarism, authoritarian rule, perpetual deception.

So who is the real ELITIST?



Or the real menace? Or the real MONSTER?

And what does Strangelove Flanagan have to say about his former pupil these days?



Yup. Stephen Harper, more crazy desperate every day.

Still capable of ANYTHING...



And still really DANGEROUS...



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