In the United
States, Harper’s is a respected progressive magazine. “Harper’s” has an
entirely different connotation in Canada, my home and native land. For the past
decade, Canada has been Harper’s. Stephen Harper’s, that is.
Today, Canada is
voting, and if there is any social justice in the world, the country’s voters
will vote Conservative Party Prime Minister Harper out of office.
I wish I were
there to cast my vote for either the Liberals or the New Democratic Party. Not
because I’m a big believer in politicians, or the idea that, as Lewis Lapham
writes in November’s Harper’s, we – regular folks in Canada or the U.S. – can't realistically
expect our vote to matter in terms of choosing democracy over concentrated
wealth.
I would back the
Liberals or the NDP because it would at least FEEL like the side of a civilized
approach to government and public problem-solving is in charge. What a luxury
to imagine the word citizen as a possible construct in a conversation. That
would count for something.
Next: Running for Your Life: Stick-to-it-ness
