The unprecedented frenzied and irrational reactions to Brett Kavanaugh’s recent Supreme Court appointment appear impossible to objectively explain. From the theatrics surrounding the outrageous allegations of Christine Blasey Ford, to pounding on the doors of the Supreme Court itself, ‘beyond reason,’ would be putting it mildly, based on the optics.
But the reason for the frenzied desperation over Kavanaugh is quite understandable (though morally unjustifiable), notes Salim Mansur as he guides us through a step by step recent history of the Democratic Party’s steady decline in power and influence. With mid-term elections at the doorstep, the Democrats will only add more fuel to a fire of their own making.
What the Democrats are trying to ‘burn’ in that fire is America itself, in particular, the values of individualism upon which America has been founded. In attempting to do so, they risk getting burned themselves, and so far that has been both the result and the cause of their frenzied and irrational reactions.
Maxime Bernier, whose recent loss to Andrew Scheer for the leadership of the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) precipitated an internal power struggle, dropped a political bomb just as the party was heading into its 2018 party convention in preparation for next year’s Canadian federal election.
That ‘bomb’ was not simply the fact of Bernier’s announced resignation from the CPC, which would have been serious enough. Nor was the ‘bomb’ his scathing judgement that the CPC was “intellectually and morally corrupt,” something rarely heard in Canadian circles – and coming from a past leadership contender for that same party – a devastating indictment.
However, the real political ‘bomb’ was Bernier’s announcement that he would start a new Canadian political party (as yet unnamed) – and lead it into next year’s federal election in the hopes of defeating both Canada’s ruling Liberal Party and opposition Conservative Party. The implications for Canadians are enormous and so is the potential opportunity – or obstacle -that a new Canadian political party represents to the electorate.
In her second “free speech pub night” Lindsay Shepherd of The Laurier Society For Open Inquiry introduced Andrew Lawton to speak on Ideological Conformity in Politics and the Media.
Andrew Lawton is a writer, columnist, broadcaster, and former radio talk show host. With a quick wit, entertaining speaking skills, and personal anecdotes he reveals the lunacy of post-modernism and the problem with politics in both Canada and the United States.
Rage against the political machine all you want, but as long as every gear in that machine turns leftward, the option of shifting gears in the right direction simply doesn’t exist. With few exceptions, that’s the reality in Ontario politics today – particularly now that the June 7 general election is underway.
Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne’s Liberal government certainly deserves all of the criticism it is getting – and more. But simply ridding the province of Kathleen Wynne will do little to help alleviate the chronic shortage of doctors and hospital beds, or reduce the unprecedented cost of electricity, nor address the dramatically increasing poverty and drug addiction rates.