Happy First anniversary

So the Conservatives have passed their one year mark in power and brimstone has not yet fallen from the skies and the apocalypse has not yet taken place; so much for all those Liberal predictions. And what do you know, homosexuals still haven't been rounded up and sent to re-education camps, so things aren't looking good for the NDP prognosticators either.

For the last 365 days we've had a government that's actually lived up to several of their campaign promises (a rarity in national Canadian politics) and have been working to make some of their other promises a reality. There have been some screw-ups, such as the "Quebec nation" thing which can still go either way, but all in all, Canadians have gotten to see a government run on principle and not whatever the latest polls suggest would get them the most votes. Still, and for reasons I will never understand, the Conservatives are neck in neck with the Liberals in most polls when people are questioned about upcoming elections. It's like we have 30% of the country suffering from 'battered wife syndrome' always saying to themselves "they'll be different in the future; they promised".

I can at least respect a person for voting NDP or Green or even Communist if that's the way their particular ideology dictates and in past elections I've urged friends to do so, even going so far as to help them review the various party platforms to determine which matches their particular world view. I may consider them fringe groups made up of pie in the sky dreamers with no concept of reality but at least they are dedicated to their fantasies and unlikely to change their core beliefs at politically opportunistic times (not to say it hasn't happened in the past, just it's not an every day occurrence). The Liberals on the other hand seem to have no ideology except to that they deserve to rule Canada and that they're not the Conservatives.

In the past 12 years almost every program they finally managed to pass was stolen from one of the other major parties platforms as soon as they saw it had any popular support; their own campaign promises drifting down the memory hole as fast as the confetti could be cleared from the campaign night celebrations. That's why it was so funny to read in the paper today about newly elected Liberal leader, Stephane Dion, suggesting the Conservatives were stealing old Grit programs to call their own. What Dion may not realize is that even if that were true it would imply that the Tories, with a minority government, are willing to institute a program they believe has merit, regardless of it's origins, that the previous successive Grit governments, which were generally overwhelming majorities, would not. Acknowledging your parties ineptitude is not exactly the best position to attack from.

But lets not leave poor Jack Layton out of this. His recent comments at the University of Montreal actually gave me more of a chuckle than today's Duplex. Speaking about Canada's continued effort in Afghanistan he essentially laid out the NDP plan of attack against Jihadist bent on destroying Western civilization; let's just talk to them. I simply amazes me how humanists like Layton and the NDP as a whole can spend all their time protesting what they perceive to be even the slightest discriminatory action to any of their protected groups (when most of the things they are protesting for are in fact special rights for these groups) and then in the same breath condemn conservatives from taking actions to bring even the most fundamental rights to these same groups in other countries. It's a disconnect that I'm simply incapable of understanding.

Anyway, happy anniversary Prime Minister Harper and here's hoping to many more.