Why Do the Reform-a Cons Lie Cheat and Steal? Because They Can!

It is a basic tenet of consumerism/corporatism that the market will charge for it's products and services what ever it can safely get away with. Traditionally, this means that producers/businesses will charge whatever consumers will pay for their widgets. It has nothing to do with the actual value of their products or services in real terms. It is all about the value that consumers place upon them. What ever the population is willing to accept.  It is supposed to keep the markets fair and act as a means of keeping the producers from gouging the public.  

The price of a given product rarely
has anything to do with it's actual
value.

But have you ever wondered why we are paying $1.30 for a litre of gasoline (more in many places across Canada), $12 for a pack of cigarettes, $3.00 for a bag of chips or 20 (+) % interest on a credit card when the prime lending rate is 7 or 8%? And remember when we didn't have to pay "Interac" fees for banking at ATMs other than our own? It's because the people who make these things or provide these services CAN charge us these abominable rates. We are addicted to gasoline and cigarettes so our collective "need" is vastly exploited by the producers. We WANT our chips so we will pay almost anything the producers will charge and we desperately NEED our credit cards, at any cost. A citizen without a credit card is no citizen at all. And banks charge us Interac fees now because we have become accustom to the convenience here in our new-improved hyper-convenient society. In essence, we are charged exorbitant fees and prices because the markets CAN charge us exorbitant fees and prices. There is no law against it in a "Free Market" economy and any so-called watch-dogs have little or no clout to enforce reasonable pricing. This is a capitalist society. It's how it works.

The Invisible Hand
of Capitalism.

But what does all this have to do with the Reform/Conservative Party (otherwise known as the Conservative Party of Canada, or as I refer to them, the Reform-a-Cons)? I mean, they are a political party, right? What does corporatism have to do with politics? Well for starters, traditional Conservative parties have been identified with Business interests. Their philosophy, whether you buy it or not, is that whatever is good for business is good for the country and hence good for society. This is not necessarily and erroneous belief as long as one also believes in the "Invisible Hand" of capitalism which is supposed to be in essence, the law of supply and demand and that the wealth from prosperous businesses will trickle down to the consumer class, thus creating perpetual balance in the capitalist society. A lovely notion if it were true. The problem is, if there ever WAS an Invisible Hand, it no longer exists. But I digress...

It stands to reason then that in traditional Conservative circles, these politicians have often been well connected in business. If not, they have been extremely sympathetic to the needs of the business class. But let us not forget, our current Majority Conservative government is anything BUT a traditional Conservative group. This so-called party has evolved from the extremest, evangelically driven Reform Party. They possess the Conservative name only because of the treachery of Peter MacKay who, as the last leader of the old Progressive Conservative Party, sold his soul to Stephen Harper in return for power and influence. So imagine then, the traditional business friendly Conservative principles, mutated and distorted by extremism and religious dogma. This then, is the Reform-a-Con Party of Canada and they view themselves as being on a divine mission.

And if you buy that line of crap that the
Reform-A-Cons had nothing to do
with fraudulent Robo-calls, then have I got
a deal for YOU on Florida swamp land. CHEAP!

So this current Conservative party has decided to use the marketing strategies and unwritten principles of the corporate world in order to achieve their mission. Harper has decided to run the country as though it was a business and he views Canadians as being no more than consumers, purchasers of his snake-oil, to be bamboozled and exploited.    As a result we end up with Robo-calls, secrecy, contempt of/for Parliament and disregard for the well being of the general public and their democratic rights. Not to mention the blatant disregard for the environment, women's rights and science, all of which are seen, as being bad for the Reform-a-Con Business.  So we now end up with the most corrupt government in our history. 

But why would a political party, who's future is based solely on the approval of the masses lie, cheat and steal their way into power? And how on earth can they get away with it? Well aside from the fact that they believe it is their divine mission, they use these tactics for the same reason businesses and services rob from us. They do it because they CAN and there is no one to stop them. The Reform-a-Cons have learned their business strategies well and have become adept at  exploiting every conceivable loop-hole in the law. Canadian law, at least as far as politics and elections are concerned, was established for Canada as it was 100 years ago with minor modifications being made along the way. It was not designed for, nor could it ever have envisioned, the information age nor the coming of the Reform-a-Cons. As such, it is outdated and ripe for exploitation by a zealous generation of "political entrepreneurs". 

So who is to stop this corrupt bunch from making a mockery of our democracy? Elections Canada? The RCMP? It took five years for Elections Canada to finally gain a conviction over the Reform-a-Cons for the "In and Out" scandal of 2006. And what was the penalty? a $52,000 fine. A slap on the wrist. The Government of Harper spent ten times that amount just in court costs alone. And because the Reform-a-Cons had all the money (our tax dollars) they were able to drag the case out for years. And what ever happened to all those breaches of ethics by one Minister or another? A few Mea Culpas and that was it. And what ever happened to that Contempt of Parliament ruling? The Reform-a-Cons used it to spin, manipulate and connive their way into majority government. No accountability what so ever. And what about the travesty of the G20, the Gazebos? NOTHING? And what about the Supreme Court ruling that The Government of Harper had actively denied Omar Khadr his Charter rights. NOTHING!

When they had a minority government, the Reform-a-Cons successfully kept the sadly splintered opposition chasing their own tails. Now that they have a majority government, there is essentially, no one to hold the Government of Harper to account. The watchdogs that weren't already toothless, have become so under the Harper regime. And we are three years away from the next election so even the voters who care and are inclined to do so, are powerless to topple this corrupt, banana-republic regime. 

So the Government of Harper, as I said earlier, the most corrupt government in our history, lies, cheats and steals from Canadian taxpayers on an almost daily basis, because they CAN and no one and nothing can stop them. It's just good business.