Politics Galore

AN URGENT MESSAGE TO CANADIANS.

Beware of predatory politics:
The why and how behind the Conservative driven agenda to deceive the public through a calculated scheme that turned the Canadian Media establishment into enablers and unquestioning collaborators to manipulate this election.


In this era of fake newscasts, fake authors and memoirs, fake guns, fake identities, fake info commercials, fake and fabricated science and cloning, fake and illicit corporate scams and now also ruthless predatory marketing of political ideas through deceptive advertising specifically created to build powerful illusions around a phantom political party in this election in which they hope you will become their prey.

Therefore, the reason for this urgent message is obvious because it seems more and more likely that the biggest scam in Canadian political history is about to be perpetrated upon Canadians as they begin voting for a party that does not exist.
The creation of this phantom political party is straight out of Karl Rove’s playbook when the evangelical right high jacked the well established Republican Party in the U.S.A.

My deep concern is therefore about truth, honesty, ethics and the making of a fake /phantom political party.
Personally I cringe, every time I read or hear the word ‘Tory” in the context of the Conservative Party.
As we know, the P.C. party was dissolved and is as dead as its founder Johnny MacDonald.
Thus, this myth that the conservatives are Tories is not just a fantasy it is fake.

The idea that four established political parties are running against this phantom outfit is not only un-believable but fundamentally dishonest and un-ethical.
The Conservatives together with the Media as myth makers deliberately deceive Canadians into thinking they are voting for the old Tory party every time they use that word in their interviews or in Newspaper or other media headlines.

Thus, what the old Reform and Alliance parties could not accomplish through front door election politics, to win the trust of voters and the reigns of power, they are now attempting to accomplish this objective through back door shrewd political tactics absent of ethics.

The Reform turned Alliance party traded its green and white color logos for PC blue, deliberately zeroed in on color and name recognition and banked their fortunes on the nostalgia factor for a deceased PC party through slick marketing and advertising knowing all the while that the old Tory name would come to be associated with their election campaign.
In addition, through silencing the likes of the Crewall’s and a Ms. Gallant and other radicals within the conservative party by the issuing of a gag order, the party controls the message which is then released through staged (fake) rallies in which the invited (fake) audience is nothing but an powerful prop on which to build (fake) illusions.

I call this politics by stealth and deception to which ironically, their political opponents and the media, print, radio, television and the internet, have become willing collaborators to a massive hoax.

What if , as an example, the Liberal Party of Canada was to dissolve and the NDP were to buy its assets and then traded its own logo and colors and made them fuse and look similar to the old Liberal party would the media and pundits call the then re-incarnated NDP ‘Grits’?!

This deliberate tactical strategy by the dismantled Reform-Alliance parties now re-incarnated as Conservatives and running their election campaign as ‘Tories’ knowingly strategized to deceive the electorate into thinking they are voting for the old PC party when in reality, the voter would cast its ballot for a brand new political party that has no history, no experience and who has never been tested on its own merits!

I find this development in Canadian politics extremely disturbing and truly un-conscionable but I also view this as an all out assault on a un-suspecting public, largely unaware, on how they are being manipulated to cast their vote for a Canada which will no longer exist when valued Canadian Institutions and social safety nets are dismantled and or are privatized under a neo-conservative mandate to re-make Canada in their image should that party become the face of the Government of Canada.

My analysis given in this document provides, I think, the major reasons why the Conservatives have risen in the polls a feat rejected time and time again by the electorate when they had come face to face in the election booth with the now defunct Reform, Alliance and the Progressive Conservative parties.

Perhaps the Conservative party commercials of fake news items, featuring Mr. Harper with a fake Journalist and fake voters asking questions of the leader, should have been a clue to how the Conservative party was about to conduct their electoral campaign building an illusion surrounding a nonexistent party!

Many thousands of Canadians will feel terribly deceived and betrayed when they wake-up on January 24th, 2006 to find out their illusionary political party does not exist and that they were only pawns to a means to power.
They are then the manipulated collateral damaged prey from a sophisticated marketing and advertising Corporation whose very job involves the creation of illusions and to build and brand it into the believability of a particular message.

That this scenario may be Canada’s future is actually too scary a thought to contemplate.
However, while there is still time, please help to spread this urgent message to the Liberals to the NDP, the Green Party and to affected individuals and organizations on your mailing lists to stop the neo-conservatives in their ruthless quest to conquer Canada through backdoor tactics leading to a predatory coup d’ tat orchestrated, influenced and directed by their mostly powerful American handlers and friends within the neo-conservative movement inside and outside of the U.S.A.

Without any doubt or over-exaggeration, Canada has entered its moment of being in great peril.
Anyone knowing American history knows that it has influenced practically every election on the planet with money, people and resources from before and after the Orange and Rose Revolutions in Eastern Europe to recent South American and African elections and this document is not just meant as a wake up call to realize that Canada is not immune or exempt to these under-cover tactics.
Canada is the most strategic country for America to gain control over in an age where oil, water, timber, minerals and other precious metals are going to be either sold to America and China or strategically just to America alone, to economically freeze out China, should the neo-conservatives win power on January 23rd. 2006.

Therefore, Canadians must be awakened to this reality that Canadians have more to lose then just Child Care, Health Care, the social safety net or its commitments to Aboriginal individuals and communities.
Canada could stand to lose everything this country has been able to build for generations.

Canadians must now mobilize to prevent unscrupulous politicians, operators and willing collaborators, the likes of which Canada has never had to deal with in its entire history since Confederation, to gain power in Canada.

I humbly call upon Canadians to truly stand on guard for Canada to fight back to not only preserve our valued Canadian Institutions but for Canada to remain as an independent sovereign Country.

Good luck and thank you for spreading this urgent message at a time when Canada and Canadians everywhere need to be told the truth instead of being deceived by deceptive and fake make believe illusionary messages coming from ultra right-wing politicians, American think-tanks, right-wing media outlets, interest groups, pundits and un-suspecting media outlets who have, without thinking it through, use the word Tory in their articles, headlines, radio shows and on television and the internet without correcting or questioning the fact that they are part of an extremely dark and clever scheme to deceive the Canadian public.

Sincerely

TOWARD A JUST SOCIETY??

(The conquest for your vote.)

A parallel history of recent political events in Canada and the Netherlands.

(Copyright J.M. de Kip.)

May 27, 2005.


Stephen Harper and his kindred spirits as in Conservatives, Gilles Duceppe and the Bloc Quebecois are political parties on Viagra as they plotted to whip Canadians into a manufactured Parliamentary crisis, to undo their Liberal rivals.

Strengthened by their rise in popularity caused by yet unproven Liberal party treachery, they collaborated to instigate a renaissance, in Quebec’s quest for souvereignity.

Their ambitions knowing no boundaries they schemed together to undo a Liberal Minority to replace their seat of power with their own alternative reality.

A budget deal put Jack Layton’s NDP and Paul Martin’s Liberals into a House of Commons bed that forged Stephen Harper and Gilles Duceppe to raise the stakes instead of drawing back in their quest, to free Quebec.

Lurking in behind the scenes, Belinda Stronach secretly readied her guillotine to chop down this sudden rise of Separatist-Conservative opportune longings to hold a country hostage to their vision, to convert the peoples vote in turn for their blind faith, for un-relenting free trade.

Belinda Stronach not without an astute calculus mind thus used her feminine finesse to cause this Conservative-Separatist collaboration to flop into nothingness.

Stephen Harper and his birds of a feather quickly recovered to renew their predatory ways to undo those liberal-NDP collaborative relations and prayed for Conservative American ways.
To show himself a statesmen in the making, Mr. Harper furthered his exalted rhetoric with political evangelism to pressure the sitting Prime Minister to resign “for God’s sake” thus forgetting that Canadians hold that power when they elected him.

Just outside the wide expanse of Parliament with its Peace Tower on the hill, Belinda Stronach took the road to power and left Peter Mackay as roadside kill.

His heart, shattered by betrayal he cried foul, while he not so long ago had dealt similar fatal blows to this all Canadian Tory Party which he had considered to be his own.
To further his then wild ambitions he laid waste to the defenders of Johnny MacDonald’s historical legacy and left his opponent David Orchard in his wake as bloodied corporate highway waste.
To appease his Bay Street owners, as in Magna, Harris and Mulroney, he sealed his fate by entering their arranged same sex marriage, offering up his Tory Party to the Reform turned Alliance party, but could not foresee or reconcile their opposing cultural values.

Retreating to his Nova Scotia potato patch to bury his broken heart he begged Canadians to feel his pain while they themselves are weary of all politician’s Machiavellian ways.

On May 19, 2005, all political parties had come together for their historic vote but Chuck Cadman had listened to his people and resolved to use his conscience with his monumental vote to prevent the falling of a Liberal Minority Government.
This lone MP from the backwoods of BC prevented the wrath Canadians would send upon their Elected Members and so he stood-up straight to cast his vote with confidence to give all Canadians their Victory from coast to coast, to coast.

In the aftermath of this near abyss, some said, Canadian Politics could not become any better for it just about had replaced its National sports events with Politics most veil.
Whilst all decorum, argued debate and treasured Canadian values of civilized speech became suspended with sensationalism, sexism and other words not worth repeating the public remembered the invocation of a toilet by the Prince of the Party who owns Peter Mackay. He had risen in the House of Commons a week or so before to address a most urgent matter to express his hope he could send his opponent, the Prime Minister, down a Nation-wide sewer and hoped his words had prophecy.
So, the two men, Mr. Mackay and Harper, who never have held any Cabinet posts nevertheless, found it to be in their interest to try and topple their nemesis and did not seem to care that they were gambling with the wealth and health of the nation, the envy of the world.

At week’s end, after the big vote, War and Peace again reigned among the parties with the Conservatives and Bloc Quebecois vowing to return with their divide and conquer tactics to instigate a turn in fortunes to win their final battle to wrestle power from those Liberal hands so un-deserving ?!

The governing party on the other hand, had found themselves a new religion to adopt the NDP’s stated goals to make a difference in the average Canadian man and woman’s life, to tackle climate change to help people breath more easily and to give aid to many cities to secure their future viability. But, most importantly, the investment in the daily care of children will benefit most parents who wish to spend their time to work for Corporations. They in turn cried foul for it had been their desired goal to torpedo this Liberal-NDP budgetary deal for their own tax related reasons. In the end conflict was averted with more promises made by the governing party to defer their Corporate needs, to reduce their taxes, in the not so far of future.

Meanwhile, since her arrival, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip decided to stay-away from Politics but nevertheless found it important to mention, while in Saskatchewan, her admiration of Tommy Douglas in her speech to highlight our universal Canadian values.

However, Monarchists felt somewhat up-staged by the theatre of domestic politics and the un-folding drama on Parliament Hill but, no-one could have felt more wounded or emotionally betrayed then the old men and woman who had served their country during World War Two.
War Veterans everywhere had reminisced over battles past during Holland’s 60th anniversary Liberation days but their universal lament was directed toward Canadian Politicians for their self-serving ways.
By a terrible lack of judgment the Prime Minister of Canada cancelled his attendance in the Netherlands because the opposition, in Conservatives and the Bloc Quebecois, were seriously determined to bring down his Liberal Minority Government.
And so it was decided by Stephen Harper and Gilles Duceppe to hold, Paul Martin, his Government, Jack Layton and his NDP, hostage in their own land.
As Canadian War Veterans marched in the many celebratory parades in the Netherlands, to pay tribute to their fallen comrades and to say their final farewells, they secretly had hoped that Paul Martin and the NDP had come to Holland, even if, it had been against their will.
If the War Veterans aged bodies had held political capital, the Prime Minister and the NDP could have been calling for the Conservative- Separatist bluff and the two parties would likely have been falling into their own self-created abyss.
.
Instead, the Leaders called a multi-party temporary truce to fly to Holland after all the ceremonies had already finished, to still to be seen as paying tribute to genuine Canadian War Heroes.
In a small War Cemetery in the Dutch Country-side four Canadian Leaders bowed their heads in solemn tribute to those dead soldiers who had paid with their young lives so that four Parliamentarians could stand there in collective shame to thank them on behalf of a great-full nation.
After paying their respect, the politicians tried to give voice to those who lay in repose at their feet and to those still serving within the Canadian Army and promised to quickly pass new Veterans legislation upon their return to Parliament Hill.

Cameras and microphones had followed them all the way from Canada to record this very special occasion.
Stephen Harper on the other hand, within the confines of that sacred place, rebuffed and denied the accusations from reporters that he had held his Government hostage with his threat to topple them from power. Responding to this critique with cool élan, he stated more or less, that Paul Martin and Jack Layton could have gone to the Netherlands earlier for reasons that”the House does not sit or does business on Sundays.”


In the days leading up to the Victoria Day long weekend, Canadians every-where reflected on the Parliamentary showdown vote that they had not sought nor wanted because their only wish had been Peace, Order and good Governance.
But Stephen Harper on the evening after the big vote chose again to ignore the people’s wishes and for good measure promised a renewal of his war in an effort to bring himself and his Conservatives from Opposition to taking Paul Martin’s power.


After many weeks of partisan politics, drama, hospitalizations of MP’s, suspense, un-scrupulous behavior, sexist mutterings and jokes, Orwellian, Machiavellian and Strausian machinations including Politics by innuendo and the secret taping of House of Common’s staffers reminiscent of Nixon’s Watergate, Canadians appear resolved to stop their leaders plans to try once more for that illusive seat of power.

In the final analysis and aftermath of this artificially created political drama lies the fact that Stephen Harper and his Conservatives in collaboration with Gilles Duceppe as leader to the Bloc Quebecois failed to ignite the population, beyond its own fundamental base, to revolt against their democratically elected Liberal Minority Government.
Against the backdrop of the allegations of corruption and the scandalous hubris of misspending of Canada’s monetary treasure, coming out into the public forum from the Comery Sponsorship Inquiry, Mr. Harper and Duceppe, had begun to ride an unstoppable train that had led them to believe that the outrage of the nation would produce more passengers for their collective political party trains.
They had hoped that by using their daily Mantra, to paint all Liberals as crooks, would resonate with all the voters and that they could turn this into capital essential to their parties future ‘winning conditions’ and hoped Canadians were sufficiently fired-up to begin their own ‘Orange Revolution.’

Fortunately for Canada, the two leaders failed to recognize that Canadians had stayed in the main, open-minded to the Comery Commissions revelations of un-savory business dealings within Government operations.
In addition, Mr. Harper and Duceppe also miscalculated the public’s anger, disappointment and contempt against their Liberal opponents and thus blindly failed to recognize that the public had turned its attention from stolen money to receiving a future benefit from the Liberal-NDP budget proposal that would bring financial relief to themselves and their families.

What has been the most striking fact in this near debacle is yet another misreading of the publics opinion as the Parliamentary showdown came down to its nail biting moment on the evening of the much trumped up non-confidence vote in the House of Commons.

Perhaps it is inherited in the Canadian psyche or maybe just enshrined into the much heralded Canadian values to be suspicious of those who would want to bring gifts in return for their un-questioned or un-qualified support to a political party.
Often wise and educated, they had come to the conclusion that certain Media outlets had taken sides in their reporting and quickly discerned that they did not like the Doomsday picture that had been painted to reveal the Conservatives much talked about ‘hidden agenda.’

The turning point seemed to have occurred when CTV, Mike Duffy, Robert Fife, Global Televisions Peter Kent, The National Post Newspaper, MacLean’s Magazine, The Western Report, Ted Byfield, the Fraser and C.D. Howe Institutes including their American connections as in the Neo-conservative Captains Corner webblog and David Frum (a lapsed Canadian), began to sing and repeat the Mantra’s out of an well co-coordinated songbook. In fact, those media outlets, pundits, columnists and bloggers became the bullhorn to the Conservative agenda to condemn all Liberals for their (un-proven) corrupted ways and thus offer their audience the Nirvana that would lie ahead if they joined in to the Neo-conservative bandwagon, to elect them as their next rulers of governmental power.

Alarmed, by some of the most venomous language used ever in Canadian political history, Canadians rejected their rapturous doomsday scenarios as propagated by some ultra rightwing propagandists imported from across the southern border.
For most Canadians it all was too reminiscent of the tactics employed by Karl Rove, the principal strategist to President G.W.Bush who, as the architect to their rise in power, had unscrupulously recruited their ‘Soldiers for God’ but are not warning their congregation that America is about to meet its own Waterloo.

What added further surprise, alarm, sadness and dismay to the nationwide daily discussion, occurred when Rex Murphy, a respected columnist to the Globe and Mail Newspaper and a national treasure as broadcaster and cerebral guru to the CBC, joined the megaphone debating society of the Conservatives, as he called for the heads of those Liberal rascals to roll and for the Prime Minister to resign, on National television as his ‘Point of view.’
In his opinion, the daily revelations coming out of the Comery Inquiry were a national disgrace and thought it to be a near national viral disease that so many tuned into to the daily spectacle with fascination and addiction to the politics of the nation and the Comery Inquiry’s treacherous tale of how the well connected managed to scam the nation for so much money.
Canadians meanwhile, are now waiting to hear or read Rex Murphy’s opinion on what is now commonly referred to as the Crewal tapes, in which the Conservative MP betrayed the trust of individuals by secretly taping more then four hours of conversations to entrap them and then accusing the same individuals that they had offered inducements to him and his wife in the form of an Ambassadorship and a Senate appointment for his spouse.!

This sordid tale in the life of recent Canadian politics has in many ways also had its immediate benefits however, for it touches Canadian values to its very core and it has had already some very direct positive outcomes.
Canadians as a whole have shown themselves to be a somewhat analytical lot as they withstood and rejected the daily barrage of Conservative-Separatist mind-numbing accusations that the people they had put into office were entirely corrupt and beyond salvation.

The majority instead continue to support the Liberal-NDP budget deal and their positive message giving hope to many average families for a more socially equal future.

Although an entire nation continues to be clued to the daily reality show called the Comery Inquiry, likely the biggest scandal to hit the Canadian establishment for some time, the population seems to have come to one conclusion, that their Prime Minister and his Liberal Party are no criminals as accused by their political opponents.
As evidence to this renewed trust on Tuesday, May 24th, 2005, the citizens of Happy Valley-Goose Bay in Labrador elected a new Liberal Member of Parliament in a by-election adding one more seat to the federal minority in the House of Commons.
The election send a powerful message to, in particular the Conservative party, to not take the Canadian electorate for granted or to be so arrogant as to think all people can be manipulated with twisted spin, un-truths, innuendo and blatant venom rolling of tongues to benefit no-one, other then themselves.

On the same Tuesday, five days after the near collapse of the Liberal Minority Government, Canadians had taken a collective sigh of relief and went to their corner store to pick-up a copy of Time (Canada) magazine, to find the publication had put Belinda Stronach on its front cover.

Queen Elizabeth the Second and her consort Prince Philip then in Alberta, was greeted with more celebrations to showcase the province in all its magnificent glory and were getting ready to depart on Wednesday, the following day.

Also, some partisan media pundits went into awkward retreat to ask themselves why Canadians had rejected their much trumpeted promises of a new Jerusalem and to reflect on this defeat, CTV and Mike Duffy decided to report that Belinda Stronach had been seen dancing at a bar in Ottawa with the Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff.

Jack Layton on the other hand, the leader of the New Democratic Party, has now universally been heralded as the genuine winner to this high wire power act, called Canadian Politics.
Now highly respected for his ability to play broker to the budget deal in return for not only his parties support to keep the Liberal Minority from falling but to have also shown that the NDP does care about the average Canadian citizen.
Subsequently, Mr. Layton held out for what he and his members of Parliament thought was the right thing to do for the country.

In addition, through weeks of black-hole politics, the use of sinister charges and counter charges amidst the use of some extremely disturbing, foul and un-diplomatic language, the words Mafia, Costa Nostra and the Kux Klux Klan entered the lexicon of Canadian political discourse.

In an attempt to uphold Canadian values, Ed Broadbent the iconic legendary MP and former Leader of the Federal NDP came to be seen as fighting against the potential erosion of trust, respect, honor, ethics and fair play, which later was echoed by Paul Martin‘s appeal to all parties to tone down the rhetoric for the sake of civility in a statement in the House of Commons.

Having appeared statesman like and staying clean in rhetoric and action through the many days leading up to and after the day of the showdown confidence vote in the House of Commons, Jack Layton managed to score the equivalent of a home-run in the eyes of the population.
Standing amidst the graves of Canadian soldiers in Holland Mr. Layton revealed himself to be a humanist when he showed his un-ease and voiced his shame when he spoke apologetically for himself and the other leaders for not having attended the elaborate ceremonies organized by the Dutch to honor and thank Canada’s very own Veterans of WW II.

Then on that Tuesday after the Victoria Day long weekend, Canadians across the country knew they had crossed that final hurdle, that would bring renewed calm to the nation, when it was announced on CBC television newscast that an extremely rare white buffalo calf had been born in Northern British Columbia. Considered sacred to Native Canadian Indian tribes it was announced that this very special creature would carry the name, “Spirit of Peace.


POSTSCRIPT:

This factual tale of political opinion on recent Canadian history also may hold a mighty warning that conceivably be found in the parallel politics of the Netherlands.

The parallels of the Dutch versus the Canadian system are stunningly similar. Holland as in Canada has a constitutional Monarchy, a parliamentary system and the equivalent of a House of Commons and the Senate.
Holland has been a Democracy since the early 16th Century and has had a Judeo-Christian tradition with a strict separation of Church and State that began in the late 15th Century.
Also, the Dutch share another historical fact with Canada in that both countries have had political figures assassinated in their history.
For the Dutch, it was Prince Willem van Oranje Nassau, the founding father of the country, who was killed by a lone gunman about 400 years ago.
In Canada, the same fate befell Darcy McGee, a legendary Member of Parliament of Irish descent, who too was shot by a lone gunman in Ottawa in 1868.

For the author of this chronology, witnessing the overheated, often over the top politics coming out of Ottawa, it all came down to a terrible sense of dread and 2002 Déjà vu, in which resides my motive that propelled me to write this retrospective on recent Canadian politics.

In the lead up to the Dutch national elections, in May of 2002, similar political shenanigans became the norm, as did the politics of character assassination, lack of respect for opponents, invocations of war and destruction between political parties and liberally spicing up their appearances and debates with the politics of fear mongering and using it as a weapon to cut down their opponent in the public square of television, radio and printed media interviews.

But most importantly and perhaps the most dangerous of all developments was the suspension of telling the truth and see it replaced by politically charged spin, dishonesty, deception and blatant propaganda frequently cloaked into seedy sensationalism, entertainment and tabloid gossip and rumor journalism to lure the potential voter to a particular stripe of politics.
As a result people became cynical, lost their sense of trust and respect for their leaders, institutions and their media, which then began to erode the public’s belief system in the role of Government to their lives and society.

All political parties collaborated with partisan media outlets and pundits thus creating a culture of discontent who managed to manipulate the population to be divided over what ultimately was at stake for Holland.

Dutch society had already begun to change dramatically for many years mainly because of the implementation of very controversial immigration and refugee policies which, against the wishes and warnings of the population, were implemented by the then ruling party the PVDA (Labor) whom subsequently became extremely unpopular and was severely beaten in the May 2002 national elections.

Against this backdrop of an already destabilized society whipped into an almost frenzied state of partisan politics, a politician by the name of Professor Drs. Pim Fortuyn was shot dead by a fanatic just after he had finished a campaign interview on May 6, 2002.
Extremely charismatic, highly educated, articulate and author of numerous books on Dutch society and its politics, which all became national bestsellers, this very eccentric intellectual became not only the darling to the population but of course to the media as well.
Tall and thin in stature and very photogenic he also had a natural sense of humor and wit which he used in his speeches and interviews. No other politician regardless of what party they were from could match his intellectual capacity, his looks, his élan and his Don Juan behaviorisms nor his confidence or his considerable debating skills.

He was a natural born leader who instantly connected, thru his books, articles and speeches, to the population to become their voice for what had been bottled up and what had been allowed to fester inside their society, for more then thirty years.

For his opponents and the partisan press he had become a lighting rod and so he became the target of character assassination and confrontation of the most vicious kind in Dutch political history.
Contrary to his policy proposals laid out in his many speeches and written tracts, fellow politicians, partisan newspapers, magazines, tabloids and anyone with a personal political agenda began to brand him as an ultra rightwing nationalist and anti Islamist.
Labels repeated as mantras became the norm and was recruited as a strategy to instill the fear factor into the campaign in the hope that voters would turn their support to any of the other parties. In fact, voters rejected these efforts and this strategy backfired for his popularity rose with each passing day until he was killed about a week or so before the election was going to be held.

Drs. Pim Fortuyn’s cold blooded assassination was the sinister results of supercharged politicians and media, a divided electorate and out of control rhetoric by all political parties and hangers on and forgetting, that there might be amongst the population, one man who had observed and listened to their uncivilized discourse and who was to decide that it was up to him, to change the course of history forever.

This murder enraged the whole nation to its very core and to this day they have not recovered from this traumatic episode in their collective memory because this man, Drs. Pim Fortuyn and his LPF party were posed to win the elections with a landslide of support that would have propelled him to be, Holland’s next Prime Minister.

In a twist of irony, last fall in 2004, in a national debate over who had been Holland’s most influential historical figure ever, Professor Drs. Pim Fortuyn won over such influential figures as Rembrandt, Vermeer, Thorbecke, Spinoza and Prince Willem van Oranje Nassau the founding father of the Netherlands and dozen and dozens of other extremely prominent Dutch historical figures. (The organizers for this competition however raised their concern, after the voting had been done over the internet, that perhaps there had been something wrong with their web programming!!)

Following Drs. Pim Fortuyn’s funeral, reminiscent of Lady Diana’s in Britain, Dutch national elections were held and by default the current office holders were elected but would not have had a likely chance to form Government if this murder had not occurred.

Since 2002, this government has continued to be highly controversial in its stand against the population over policy matters in relation to refugees, Muslim integration or actually the lack thereof, the dismantling of a once revered Health and Social system and its pro-American attitude have all contributed to now very volatile conditions facing Holland.
Also, in a recent survey the Prime Minister, Jan Peter Balkenende, was chosen to be the most unpopular and disliked politician Holland has ever had in its history.
Aloof and known for his ability to say all the right words, particularly in regards to unseen threats, his voice and demeanor however, are devoid of emotion and passion which has added to an increasing disconnect, unease and further disillusionment within Dutch society today. Together with his cabinet that are of a similar or of equal disposition they therefore fail to inspire the population to become more positive and forward looking after the death of Drs. Pim Fortuyn.

Meanwhile, the blame-game of who really killed Drs. Pim Fortuyn has continued even though the perpetrator is in jail, had his trial and got convicted.
Yet, collective guilt among politicians, political parties, media outlets, columnists and other so called talking-heads that began on the day of the assassination continuous to this day with newspapers, magazines and individuals having said their Mea Culpa’s in public.

Another murder occurred on November 2, 2004 with the slaying of Theo van Gogh in downtown Amsterdam.
A particularly sadistic and ritualistic murder perpetrated by a young Dutch man of Moroccan decent, an already angered and traumatized population now battles on, to try and stop it self from possibly, imploding as a society.

A descendant of the famous Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh, Theo van Gogh was an iconic Film and Documentary maker, columnist and much invited quest on radio and television programs. He also was a close personal friend of Drs. Pim Fortuyn and on many fronts shared a similar ideology.
What they also shared was their often highly controversial stand on politics, Islam and life in the Netherlands.
While Theo van Gogh was always viewed as the ‘Enfant Terrible’ within society for his use of often coarse language, Pim Fortuyn was not.

But, both men were staunch defenders of Dutch culture and traditions who with their harsh critique, mainly directed to the established political parties, attempted to defend Holland’s long and proud history and it’s standing in the world.
In their opinion, the political elite had squandered much of Holland’s soul, values and goodwill that had been the hallmark and identity of the Dutch for centuries.
At that time, they also accused the governing parties of the fact that they had created a social experiment of disintegration to occur without the input and expressed consent of the population which at present is one of the major causes for the increasing social unrest in the Netherlands.

Of course, their views further polarized the debate within the country and for those reasons they were viciously attacked and vilified by those wanting to hold on to power or those political groups seeking power.

Ironically, both men died for their beliefs that the country once known as the ‘Jewel of Europe’ was worth defending and each in their own particular way used their own unique gifts, talents and abilities to connect with the real people of Holland.

Epilog;

The moral of those political tales of woe, can by providence, perhaps be found in Viagra as used in the opening lines of this political tract.
By shear coincidence, while editing this article, it was announced on radio, television and on the internet, that Viagra and its counterparts may cause permanent blindness in some men.
This particular warning may perhaps have come as a bolt of lightning to those individuals indulging in this drug recreationally to enhance their chances and gain convenient artificial power in the bedrooms of the nation.

The moral behind this story may therefore lie in the facts of life, living or in the politics of Canada.
When you use tactics to artificially achieve your ambitions and you pretend to have the power that in fact you do not have, but find it convenient to deceive your partner(s) it might hold and carry untold consequences to yourself and those who share your bed.

It might give you the quick and easy rise in fortunes, as if to ignite a fire, but it will come crashing down when the drug wears off and you find you caused your own permanent disablement when you could have replaced it with hard work, a gentle approach, honesty, trust, respect for your partner(s) and a renewed belief in yourself.
When you finally come to stare at your own reflection in the mirror, with healthy eyes wide open, you will have come to the wise conclusion that you were deluding yourself to believe in false prophets.

Footnote:

In the hope that as many people as possible will be able to draw lessons, deductions and conclusions from this political tour de force, I humbly ask the reader to either send it on to others on their mailing lists or to place it perhaps on their websites or blogs or to use it also for teaching the voting age Teenager, that politics does have consequences to each and every life, today and in the future and much is at stake for Canada.

To conclude this tract of political ponderings, I wish the reader much wisdom when you make your choice in the next election.

This literary endeavor was specifically created to contribute, defend and to debate the currently much threatened Canadian values of trust, respect, honesty, ethics and fair play.
The country seems to be currently experiencing a major societal shift and thus I end this document with my question with which I began this political comparative analysis, ‘Is this the road Canada is taking toward a just society??’

Inspired by my love and respect for Canada and The Netherlands I finish with an almost 750 year old slogan enshrined in the Statutes of Amsterdam, my birthplace, and hope it will inspire the reader equally as I was inspired to be; “Heldhaftig, Vastberaden, and Barmhartig,” translated to mean “Courage’s, Determined and Compassionate.”

(Copyright 2005 J.M. de Kip.)