"There must be some way out of here said the joker to the thief" Robert Zimmerman

There is a persuasive sense of ennui to our winter political experience in this country. An example is the reaction to Mr. Harper's (aka "Steve") suspension of Parliament. The stated rational from the government being "we've got stuff to do helping the recovery, and oh yeah the Olympics are on TV" etc is weak at best but that rational has been almost perfectly balanced by the level of "outrage" from political parties and the lumpen proletariat. The whole thing has felt like everybody has been going through the motions but with no real (to quote Bruce Lee) "Emotional Content"

The public protests about Parliament not sitting have predictably come from the same folks who protest everything the government does when Parliament IS sitting. The opposition parties muddle around consumed with their own inner drama (yeah that's you Natural Governing Party or "Liberals" as they like to portray themselves). The biggest flame so far? The British Economist comes out and says Steve's a bad boy. This bold move probably helped the big C's in Quebec for all I know.

Guy on the street? A giant "whatever" seems to be the prevailing reaction. The workings of our government are pretty much a mystery to us (and by mystery I don't mean something cool and slick with a space age crime lab that solves everything in 60 minutes). Everyone complains about the economy, the weather, hockey and repeat once and rinse. Nobody connects what does or doesn't happen in our government with anything meaningful in their own lives. Governments have always known this thus the long tradition of bread and circus type public events stretching back to Rome. Think I'm exaggerating? Wait for a series of bold, visionary and expensive pronouncements to flow like wine from our current government JUST before Parliament sits down again, quelle surprise!

Soon spring will come, snow melts, dog poo reeks, flowers bloom and for some reason I always want to buy a new car. Everything changes right? Will anybody think that democracy was suspended for a while like some third world junta? The truth is we elect a government to do stuff. In retrospect parliament is redundant in the eyes of the current (and past governments) and that might be true except for the annoying fact that without parliament a lot of important "stuff" gets left on the table. I want that stuff voted in so my world can be changed in some meaningful way. As this session goes gently into the night we are witness to the expediency of politics over the the principals that a lot of Canadians voted for. Bad Steve...

“Policies are many, Principles are few, Policies will change, Principles never do.” John Maxwell