It takes a great local journalist to bring one back to reality once in a while.
Today, it was Bill Tieleman of Vancouver 24 Hours turn to do the honours:
Too conservative for Canada?
By BILL TIELEMAN - January 13, 2009
Imagine where a Canadian politician who held the following positions would fit in our political system:
This politician opposes legalizing same-sex marriages.
He has no problem with citizens owning handguns - but proposed limiting their purchase - to one per month.
This politician wants to send thousands more troops to Afghanistan - and to keep them there for years instead of withdrawing them in 2011.
He thinks Robert Gates, U.S. President George W. Bush's Secretary of Defence, has done an excellent job in the Iraq war.
The politician is willing to restrict late-term abortions for women and admits he's not sure at what point a human being gets human rights.
So who did he choose to deliver a prayer before a major political event?
A controversial fundamentalist Christian pastor who has called abortion "a holocaust" and who campaigned in California for the successful Proposition 8, which bans gay marriages.
This politician has described government-run public health care as "an extreme" that leads to high taxes and is "wrong" while supporting private health insurance as the best option.
And despite saying that he has done more than anybody to "take on lobbyists and won" - this politician just appointed one to a top position.
So, where would you place this politician on the Canadian political scene?
An elected representative with these policies that are so obviously way out of line with Canadian mainstream values and popular opinion would likely lead a fringe party far to the right of Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper, with little hope of political success.
But in the United States - his name is President-Elect Barack Obama.
_______________Just make sure that you don't get caught up in next week's Obama-mania and miss the fact that the new American president is in many ways far more conservative than any of Canada's political leaders.
Granted, Canadian politicians - stephen harper in particular - leave a lot to be desired at times.
When one compares them to those south of the 49th, however, we're fortunate.
It's up to all of us to make the political picture here even better . . . .
(Cross-posted from Moved to Vancouver)
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