So Much Fail…

Rex Murphy hosted an hour long ‘Conversation with Canadians’ piece on the Cbc this afternoon, which the wife and I managed to catch on our trip home from the Okanagan. I have to say, I was quite impressed with the man… by no means far enough to tear me away from my die-hard NDP support, but he came across as intelligent, well-spoken and kindhearted.

He hearkened back to the yesteryears when our discourse on political matters was civil, reasoned and formed with the passion for a better tomorrow. When politics were still noble, or at the very least presented that way to the citizenry, not this bitter, absurd divisiveness that we see and hear rolled out across our television from the Conservative party.

He was able to bring across the nature and the responsibility we have as Canadians and as citizens of the planet really to take part in the green shift. He fielded a great deal of calls, at least in the first half of the show where people bitched and moaned about the increases in the price of gas and diesel fuel. Were those people under the impression that it’s going to get cheaper? That we would somehow, either by magic or divine providence somehow roll back demand across the rest of the planet or discover some yet untapped source that would prop up supply of this ever dwindling resource and somehow lower the price?

However painful the costs now, these will only grow and become ever more unaffordable and there is nothing any person or government can do to change that. It is a fact, it is the reality of the situation. Are people so conditioned to the meme that we will only ever be lied to by our elected officials that we now seek out and trust those lies in the face of reason and fact?

It asks the question if our leaders can still appeal to our intelligence and sense of responsibility as opposed to our sense of fear and entitlement?

I was also quite impressed with the way he avoided stooping to the levels which Harper has driven this election to. Rex asked him whether he though Harper’s choice of words… ie: that Dion was pro-taliban, that Dion was cheering for a recession… was a failing of character on our Prime Minster’s behalf. Dion’s response was priceless, “I refuse to give up on humanity. I am an optimist.” I have to say, I came away with a great respect for a man, who up until now I had honestly paid little attention to.

Now here’s to hoping Jack Layton will get off his high horse and form a coalition goverment with the Liberals on October 15th.