Archive for September, 2008
On Intellectual Dishonesty
I have previously stated that I have nothing but contempt for those who trade in lies in politics.
It’s just wrong.
Lies abuse the public trust. Lies disengage those who want to be able to believe the words people seeking office speak.
Intellectual dishonesty is a far less frequent occurance than all out lying in politics and perhaps that is because society views lifting someone’s intellectual property and claiming it as your own as far worse and simply undefendable. There is no excuse for a public official using someone else’s speech or any other material belonging to another person and passing it off as their own.
They should be forced to resign. If you can’t think for yourself or speak for yourself you do not belong in politics. It is that simple. In University if you lift someone else’s work you are expelled. Sure you can appeal, but you will lose. A journalist who lifts someone else’s work would be fired and probably sued. There aren’t any circumstances where it is acceptable. Anyone who has been through an undergraduate degree anywhere in the world knows this.
When someone holds a public office it is because people want their views reflected in Parliament not because they want to hear the really good speeches that person or their staff heard others give lately.
I don’t care that Stephen Harper is Prime Minister, I don’t care that his party is in the lead in the polls, intellectually dishonest people do not belong in politics, and while I would never expect Harper to ever do the honourable thing, particularly when it is not in his best interest, he should he resign.
When you leave the partisanship aside, it is hard to have any integrity and believe in stealing someone else’s words and ideas and passing them off as your own. Especially when you have a speech writer. Probably a few of them. At least a couple.
It is my belief that anyone involved in politics who cannot claim honest ownership of the strings of words they’ve spoken on the road to public office or while occupying that office, ought to resign.
The problem is, the lack of integrity someone would need to have to do this would also prevent them from doing the right thing and resigning. Generally morality is required to ever be compelled by guilt or the principles of doing the right thing.
It is that same lack of integrity that prevents a guy like Harper from saying ‘John Howard said it best two days ok in the Australian Parlament when he said….” There problem solved. Point made, credit given. Everything is ok.
Ladies and Gentlemen, we can insure those who act without integrity are ‘resigned’ from office. We can in this case follow the advice of Danny Williams and vote anyone but Conservative ( I think Danny really means Liberal) to tell Stephen Harper not only do we not agree with his far right agenda for Canada, but we especially don’t believe people who opt to steal other people’s work should be anywhere near a public policy conversation. Particularly considering the good people of Australia opted to fire Mr. Howard so he is now free to speak for himself all over the world.
Comments OffSeat Projections
Nanos: CON 36 LIB 26 NDP 20 GRN 9 BQ 9
H & K CON 138 (+14) LIB 75 (-26) NDP 44 (+15) BQ 50 (-1) GRN 0 (0) IND 1 (0)
Today was a game changer – lets see how the next few days go. With the debates coming up and the state of the economy there is much uncertainty.
I was out canvasing today in an area that is usually pretty Conservative as the House of Representatives was voting down the bailout plan and the response changed between the early afternoon and just before dinner when the news began to settle. I was hearing from voters that they trusted the Liberals to handle the economy. These were seniors who were fairly well off.
Comments OffJack Layton is Dangerous for the Economy
400 000 Manufacturing jobs gone – let’s raise corporate taxes. Good one Jack. Who creates jobs? It’s not the government.
840 point drop on the TSX today – let’s raise corporate taxes. Does Jack Layton honestly believe the economy can withstand the hit? Does he even care?
Worried about the economy – call for a meeting with just Government experts, not industry. Apparently he needs to be briefed but he won’t let not understanding get in the way of talking. My favourite part was when Layton did not want May included in an all party briefing. Clearly he does not learn.
The government alone cannot fix the economy Jack.
Raising taxes on businesses looks even more stupid today than it did yesterday. Canadians understand that.
Jack Layton demonstrated today a dangerous level of economic ignorance and should not, cannot be trusted to be anywhere near the economic levers of power.
Unlike Jack and his wife, most Canadians don’t have family incomes of more than $300K a year or gold plated, government backed pensions. The vast majority of the middle class Canadians need a strong economy to succeed or even maintain employment even if the Layton’s don’t.
When Dion called Layton a socialist yesterday, I wasn’t sure it was a fair statement, but today Jack Layton’s government only approach to the economy demonstrated a socialistic outlook.
I can’t wait for the debates…
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