I was wondering what to say about the Federal Budget that came out yesterday and what it says about the vision of the NuGov for a new nation being forged by private enterprise and getting the monkey off everyone's back. But Andrew says it more plainly than I ever would as he voted for these guys:
Today's budget is an embarrassment for those who consider themselves fiscal conservatives (especially those who poured countless hours into helping bring this government to power in order to change how business is done in Ottawa). Aside from a few small measures - including a continued commitment to pay down the national debt and some baby steps towards preventative health care, the budget is an undisciplined mish-mash of high-flying spending and ridiculous wealth redistribution. There are no true tax breaks, no obvious signs that government bureaucracy is shrinking and, worst of all, a 7.9% increase in overall spending - far more than the GDP's growth.Hokey-Ka-Bokey! Sounds like the red flag is flying once again from the Peace Tower in Ottawa. What is it in the water there that makes everyone a centrist? For me and my family, we get the "you have kids" break and the "you have a spouse" break but no income splitting, the real fiscal imbalance as far as I am concerned. My pal and his wife make what we make and have one kid. They get about $5,000 from the Feds we do not due to the bias against one income households. All so unfair to me.
So I won't likely vote Tory now...and I was this close. Because if you are going to buy my vote, you really have to buy my vote. Maybe that is what we need now. NuGov 2.0. Personalized tax breaks defined to everyone's own specifications defined by the person. The ultimate in government for I, me, mine. Maybe in a way then I could vote for me, the only thing that should really matter in an honest values system.
Comments
gorthos - March 20, 2007 11:44 am
Well, mish mash is how I would best describe the budget. Not impressive, ticks off the Newfoundlanders and Sak people.. props up the Prov. Libs in Quebec at the same time as gains the support of the PQ.. I see nothing in it for me and honestly, like you, you have to buy my vote if you are a conservative govt.
On the other hand if I didn't have a mortgage as big as I do I'd be a flag waving communist but thats another story. I am officially a floppy flailing fish politically nowadays with no one issue to grasp upon with fervor. Furvor? Furvhore? whatever.. I'm voting Green just because..
Hans - March 20, 2007 11:51 am
Al: Exactly! When are government's going to learn? If you are intent on buying my vote, then buy MY vote. Recent governments, federal and provincial, seem incapable of articulating and implementing a vision and encouraging the electorate to support this vision. Instead, they want to take my tax dollars and throw it, heap it, toss it at various issues. From my PEI perspective, this phenomenon is all the more acute. Often, the currency is jobs not money, but the bribery is the same. Government says to voter: "We'll give you a job if you vote for us" or "We'll build a shiny new building in your dwindling downtown if you vote for us" or "We'll pave your roads if you vote for us" or "We'll give you money to improve your transit system if you'll vote for us" or "If you're a farmer, we'll give you money in exchange for your vote." I encourage everyone to ask their politicians in the next election when they come knocking on your door: What will YOU do for ME in exchange for my vote? And be specific. Otherwise, the guy up the street is just going to get a better price for his vote.
gorthos - March 20, 2007 12:25 pm
If the Marxist-Satanist party ran in Kingston and promised to have all potholes filled and all roads paved within two years, I'd vote for them, even if they did so with tar mixed with sand and crushed bones of sacrificial victims.
Jay Currie - March 20, 2007 5:28 pm
I am ever impressed at how willing people are to have their votes bought.
It is wonderful to see this sort of magic thinking in our all too secular world.
Alan - March 20, 2007 5:54 pm
I thought I was being blindingly facetious up there. Seeing as I have never voted for a winner, I can not speak to the benefits of either being bought or being vindicated after years in the wasteland.
David Janes - March 20, 2007 6:13 pm
I'm amazed, by conversations w. my friends all over the ideological spectrum, about what this all boiled down to do: what did or did I not get.
Alan - March 20, 2007 6:17 pm
But, to be fair, it was an "ask what your country can do for you budget."
Hey, maybe Harper thought he would shock people into a retraction towards ideological puritanism through his shameful display of pandering and self-interest.
Hans - March 20, 2007 8:32 pm
We are inured to vote-buying; budgets are nothing more than santa stuffing our stockings; everyone is demanding something; governments are only too happy to offer my money to the citizenry in the hope of obtaining my vote. That is all they want, that is governments' sole mission these days, is to obtain votes through various forms of bribery. The beauty of the equation of course is that we have a secret ballot. At least we do for now......
ry - March 21, 2007 12:38 am
Sigh. Apparently I'm not the only one who misunderstands others around here. (Thank God).
Some people just don't know how to take half a loaf and call it a day. Even when they're lucky to get even half. I wonder what happened to the incrementalism element of conservative ideology in Canada on this? But then, red meat to rally the troops doesn't have to make sense. They simply have to feel the correctness.
cm - March 21, 2007 9:38 am
I'm such a communist. I think I could easily give up my vote.
daeng limpo - December 4, 2007 11:09 pm
A leader said, " don't ask what country can do for you"
People said, "don't vote a leader said that"