From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Welcome to Wikipedia. The fiollowing is more appropriate for your User Page which is why I have moved it here. The Discussion pages are intended to be about the articles themselves not your opinions about the issues raised in the articles. Dabbler 16:55, 22 Apr 2005 (UTC)

[edit] MARTIN'S MORAL LEADERSHIP

Canadian history has a full share of political scamps and scoundrels. Our nation has been led and governed by men with addictions and others with penchants from the humorous to the bazaar. We have wondered if some leaders and representatives were not better suited to a padded cell rather than our Legislatures and Parliament.

Occasionally we have found our leaders to be rogues, scoundrels and thieves. Power corrupts, and we understand that men are tempted to misuse the awesome powers we entrust them with to improve their personal lives and fortunes.

Leaders and representatives can survive some human failings if they are competent and where required, can lead. The organizationally and politically inept do not last long in governance as they do not have the requisite leadership skills. They may continue to lead a political party, but fail the ‘smell test’ when appealing to the electorate.

Politicians caught up in breach of trust, coercion, corruption, deception and thievery do not enjoy public support. Abuse of power is one thing; abuse of the electorate another.

Canadians are neither schooled nor skilled in democracy and its institutions but have an innate and accurate sense of right and wrong. While they may not be familiar with the intricacies of democratic process, they certainly understand when the process has been abused; common sense, decency and honesty prevail in our view of democracy.

Leaders don’t have to tell us they are leaders – they just lead. They are men and women of principle who do not shirk the awkward and unappealing parts of their duties. They take responsibility seriously even when they know they are going to be subjected to derision for their decisions. That is part of what sets them apart.

Leaders don’t need paper tiger to vanquish. The know we have enough immediate and real problems to deal with to bother with created problems. Leaders do not announce which problem the plan to or have solved. They get on with it knowing that success is self-evident and by then they have moved on to the next concern. The much touted political vision of a leader is really no more than the ability to recognize and deal with the most important problems first.

When Paul Martin tells us that he has a moral right to govern, we instinctive know that he hasn’t. If he had, it would not be necessary to say so. Fool us once, shame on you. Try it twice and we turn on you. We may be indolent, lazy and uninterested in politics but attempting to fool us goes beyond politics. Paul Martin has made this personal and we are not happy with his attempts to deceive us.

Paul Martin’s attempts to portray the Liberals as the only party able to maintain national unity has grown thin. Over the past two decades, I have never seen a poll that shown national unity to be a priority for Canadians.

We elect political party to govern efficiently and effectively. We want our needs as a society addressed and national unity is not one of them. Neither is same-sex marriage or expansion of harassment legislation.

Crime, in particular crimes against the person such as abduction, assault, child abuse, robbery, rape and murder are a concern for us. We want safe and secure communities where our family members can walk down the street or go to the park, to school or to work in safety, secure that they will not be set upon by a brigand.

Our cries for an improved justice system fall on deaf ears. Instead Paul Martin pledges to protect minorities which is most unusual as there is no day-to-day evidence of minorities complaining of ill treatment, let alone seeking protection.

Health care is one of our priorities. None of us want health care. We would prefer to remain healthy for lengthy lives. However if we need health care, we want a system that is effective, efficient, responsive and timely. Our health care system has deteriorated steadily under the Liberal watch and Martin’s campaign promise to fix Medicare for a generation rings very hollow today.

Martin’s minions have been and are preoccupied with a far different sort of ‘fixing’ using public funds to grease political wheels. When we though that it was just possible that Adscam tactics were confined to Quebec, Liberal MP and President of the Treasury Board Reg Alcock could not resist engaging in some political extortion on a visit to his Manitoba home riding.

The Treasury Board controls $$ billions in public funds and we have its President using those funds for coercion and intimidation. The rot is far more widespread than we imagined. Since bureaucrats follow their leaders, the width and depth of government corruption is breathtaking in scope – a mile wide, a mile deep as far as the eye can see.

We have a five alarm conflagration on our hands. The necessity to rid ourselves of the Liberals and the corrupt practices they have contaminated all level of our federal governance with is obvious.

Whoever we put in charge will have their hands full for a first four year term simply stopping the systematic abuse of our citizens and taxpayers. It really is that bad!