Musings On The B.C. Election

The first question, therefore, with respect to the concept of responsibility, ought to be: if this government is being responsible, to whom is it being responsible?

The answer, judging from a devastating four-year assault on social programs and services, increased fees and an unwillingness to protect the province’s resources and environment, is that Gordon Campbell’s Liberals have shamelessly and arrogantly displayed to the people of British Columbia their unflagging allegiance to large corporations rather than to the citizens of this province. As a result they have betrayed that initial prerequisite of trust and responsibility which Godwin recommended as government’s sine qua non for existing.

Now I am sure that the Liberals would argue that creating a strong business climate is the sure method for increasing prosperity; and that is an argument which, on the surface, doesn’t require a response. What does need to be questioned, though, is the manner in which government goes about improving the economy, and at what personal expense to the citizens it undertakes such a task.

My feelings on the matter, based upon the research I’ve done with respect to the movement by large corporations worldwide to institute a controlled global economy, suggest that the Liberals have chosen to follow a prescription already laid out in advance by other nations, notably the USA and Great Britain. It’s one that involves pursuing an aggressive agenda of cuts to universal social (human) services and programs and also one that doggedly undermines the ability of local, regional, provincial and federal governments to determine what may be right and beneficial for their constituents. In other words, it is an alien system; and it’s being forced upon an unwitting public via subterfuge and the collusion of special corporate and financial interests working through a supposed representational, democratic government and aided by a compliant, corporate media.

What the B.C. Liberal government has had to sacrifice upon the corporate altar to thus ensure its insidious agenda comes to fruition is nothing less than its moral conscience. That is why the majority of British Columbia’s citizens now view Campbell’s “Wizard of Oz” Liberals as a Tinman government ruled by a Tinpot, autocratic leader without a heart. It’s an administration acting more as a corporate arm with a hatchet attached than an entity of sensibility and reason capable of offering needful hope and assistance to the elderly, sick, disabled, unemployed, homeless, downtrodden and poor; incapable of offering courage and direction to those many who struggle on a daily basis to sustain a measure of human dignity and respect.

Again, referring to Godwin’s principle that gaining "the confidence of the people" is the only basis of a good administration, we see that Campbell’s Liberals understand but one thing when it comes to such measures: make money, money, money, as if money per se were the end-all and be-all of a province’s existence. By rushing headlong into adopting this bastard-child of Reaganomics, which is really only a one-sided method of economic growth beneficial to large corporations and banking interests, the Liberals have essentially segregated themselves and their corporate shareholders from the bulk of the common working people of the province. And while it is no secret that a tiny rivulet of wealth does trickle down through the cracks in the corporate container, the lion’s share of financial benefit and the accompanying ability to use it for the greater social good, escapes from the public coffers into the pockets of greed-driven investors.

Money therefore has become the top-, center- and bottom-line focus of the Liberal government – money for corporations, that is, at all cost to the taxpayers and the environment. And as we look at the main planks of the Liberal platform (and their advertisements for re-election) and see a consistent adherence to this corporate philosophy, deep down inside we realize just how much this ruse has lost its luster for those British Columbians who have watched their level of comfort and security diminish over the past four years while chartered banks and corporations continue to report obscene, record profits.

So where, in this grey, gloomy climate, do these principles of responsibility and inspired confidence that Godwin wrote about ultimately shine through? Alas, only for the corporate sector and the wealthy do we see the clear light breaking forth. As for the bulk of B.C.’s population, life grows increasingly darker; and the future grows bleaker, as purchasing power shrinks and financial suffering plagues greater numbers.

The big question is: will the election change this scenario or will voters once again be duped into believing the “new” list of promises that the Campbell Liberals are proposing to replace the last ones which they didn’t follow through on? If we truly want to have a responsible government here in B.C., one that we can feel confident has the best interests of all British Columbians at heart, then we’re going to have to remove our rose-coloured glasses and take a hard, discerning look at the cold, calculating corporate realities which we’ll have to face should the Liberals once again fool the people.