Opinions

Taking permissiveness to a new low

In the weekend papers a letter to the Dear Abby column caught my eye. It was written by a distraught mother who worked sixty hours per week, while her unemployed 19-year-old daughter who lived with her hung around the house all day doing nothing. The mother complained that the daughter refused to do any housework, did not help out financially and stole money from her purse to boot. The killer was that she wanted advice on what to do!

The letter encapsulated everything that appears to be amiss in our rapidly declining society. A mother has a lazy, larcenous, unmotivated daughter that in the eyes of the law is an adult and she doesnt know what to do with her. We have a cabal of politicians that are robbing us blind and mismanaging whatever money they dont steal, yet many of us want to give them a chance. Listening to a number of Toronto area talk-radio stations last week felt like being party to a very dysfunctional familys dirty laundry. Over 50 percent of the callers felt that the Liberals deserved to stay in government at least until Mr. Justice Gomery tables his report next winter. I would venture to wager that these callers were cut from the same cloth as the mother who wrote to Dear Abby.

For a country that touts its moral superiority over the rest of the world in much the same way that a blowhard neighbour might brag about a new riding lawn mower, it seems that when the chips are down, we sure have a hard time telling right from wrong. I think that this has to do with the steady diet of moral relativism that has been fed us since the Trudeau era. In Canada today, its uncool to quote the Bible unless its the part where Jesus says, "Let him who is without sin cast the first stone." In our Im-okay-youre-okay culture we have a difficult time taking a principled stand, even on issues that affect us in the most profound manner.

When Paul Martin talks about the Conservatives "hidden agenda" and how they intend to sell Canada down the river by privatizing healthcare, outlawing abortions and forcing gay people back into the closet, can anyone really believe him, given the record of his government over the past 12 years? Doesnt it stand to reason that if someone has no moral compunction about stealing, then they probably have no moral compunction about lying? Or is that too much of a logical stretch for the good people of Toronto?

Lets look at Mr. Martin and his party in a dispassionate light or let me count the lies: does the term "Democratic Deficit" ring a bell? I seem to recall that during last years (truly unnecessary) election Martin promised to eliminate the so-called democratic deficit and allow MPs to vote with their conscience. Anybody see any evidence of this taking place? What about "saving healthcare" Yes, they pledged $45 billion in health care money to the provinces and that sucking sound you hear is the unions glomming onto to every last cent with the gusto of a hound dog. Are there any more doctors? Are the waiting times any less? No?

Theyve balanced the budget. Thats true, but theyve done it so well that they are actually running a surplus, $10 billion this year alone. Is that because of any astute financial acumen or could it be because we are being taxed at too high a rate? And assuming for a moment that having a surplus is a good thing, is it a good thing to squirrel it away into one of the innumerable "foundations" that the Liberals control safely out of the watchful eyes of Auditor General Sheila Fraser? Wouldnt the money be better used if it paid down the national debt?

What about immigration? Have the Liberals done a good job encouraging immigrants who are able to contribute to society to come here, or are there too many news stories about groups such as the Tamil Tigers of Eelam having a say in Canadas foreign policy? The latest brainchild of the Liberal party is to allow immigrants to Canada to sponsor parents and other older relatives without the need for these to be qualified in terms of employability, language skills, age, health or education. Thats a sure sign that they are worried about losing any upcoming election, as thats a patently obvious effort to "buy" the immigrant vote.

And speaking of purchasing votes, have you noticed that any time the word "election" looms on the horizon, the Liberals start talking about the importance of national unity? I believe that the Liberals have done more to harm national unity in the last thirty years than the rest of the country has since the beginning of Confederation.

Its too bad that so many of us have lost or discarded our moral compass. The advice to the mother who wrote to Dear Abby about her awful daughter was simple and straightforward: kick her out! The same should hold for a political party that steals and does not work. Kick them out!

The question is, will the mother have the moral clarity to follow through or will her guilt keep her in the throes of a dysfunctional and abusive relationship? The very same question also applies to the voters of this country. Will they have the moral fortitude to kick out the Liberals, or will they continue to allow themselves to be lied to by a cabal of power-hungry politicians who will say and do just about anything to stay in power? I think its possible that neither the mother nor the voters will opt for change, as its easier to be a victim of theft than it is to take a principled stand.

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