Monday, April 22, 2013

Say Something Good

   Sometimes it is difficult not to fret over the evil doings of certain politicians as they work their ways of iniquity behind polished masks of phoney-goodness. It is easy to forget that they will one day wither like cut grass and blow away like hollow chaff.
   They borrow in their seemingly drunkenness to fulfill their lofty dreams, but expect others after them to repay.
   They give generous tax-breaks to their friends --- and themselves --- while increasing the burden on the poor and needy. They take from the underprivileged and give to the rich and then slap each other on the back saying what a great job they are doing. 
   The tax-breaks to businesses allegedly lead to more jobs, but in reality they lead to much higher corporate profits. Workers meanwhile work harder and find more production squeezed out of them. What few new jobs appear often pay 1976 wages.
   The rich get much richer; everyone else notices their purchasing power ever decreasing. The politicians continue to proffer platitudes of emptiness and dangle false flags of hope in the faces of the people like a carrot in front of a work horse.
   Yet amongst the often earned distrust, hate and contempt one can find towards politicians, one tries to find something good to say.
   This challenge came out of the blue: Name two good things the Liberal government have done.
   The answer came surprisingly fast and sure:
   1 – They tore down and ended the toll booths on the Coquihalla Highway. Whoever heard of a government ending a toll booth? At ten dollars a car every time --- some paid forty --- on a very busy highway, that is a lot of continuous guaranteed money for a government to give up. Can one think of any government that would do that today?
   2 – They ended photo-radar, those all-seeing government eyes ready to hit you with an instant $136 fine --- often more --- the moment you made the slightest slip. Another easy cash-cow killed.
   In this day when some governments think their whole purpose is to raise money, those were two surprising --- and perhaps shocking --- moves.

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