Surviving The Fall, 27

One of the downfalls, or let's say, the dark side, of democracy, Gentle Reader, is that governments are always going to do their damnedest to get elected, stay in power and not lose in the next election, because, well, power is quite the aphrodisiac, to paraphrase that loathsome Machiavellian, Henry Kissinger, and in order to hold onto power within the norms and rule of law of a liberal democracy, then the vast majority of voters are going to have to be taken into account, not necessarily pleased, but at least left with a vaguely warm and fuzzy feeling that the government is on their side. Which brings us to what has likely been the most unfortunate, stupid, destructive and self-interested move yet made by prime Minister Junior and his federal Liberals. They have nationalized the Kinder Morgan Pipeline, to the sour tune of Four and one half Billion Dollars (not a typo!). Four and one half Billion. Money that could have solved once and for all our nation's housing and homelessness crisis. Now flushed down the toilet of dirty oil, a dinosaur industry that endangers the environment and contributes to the kind of disastrous climate change that we are already seeing in this country and all over the world. Prime Minister Shirtless really exploited his (in my opinion anyway) overrated good looks and rent-boy charm to really seduce the Canadian public. He did a pretty good testosterone packaging job on the rest of the world. I remember a friend, (now ex-friend), a likely gay man in Mexico I was doing language exchange with on Skype whom on several of our sessions would totally fag-out on our good looking prime minister (oh, el es tan joven, guapisimo y apuesto! Oooh soy envidioso a ustedes Canadienses, si pudieramos tenerlo en Mexico! or, in English, Oh, he's so young, so handsome and good-looking! Oooh, I am so jealous of you Canadians, if only we could have him in Mexico!) And more such drivel. Now, even though some of ou are likely overreacting and offended by my way of writing, may I remind you, Gentle Reader, that I am queer, myself (asexual and gender neutral), believe fully in gay marriage and childrearing rights, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera, but sometimes language has to convey the right colour in order to bring a point across, even if that colour is a little bit offensive to some of us. (I don't ordinarily use the f word, myself, if you must know!) So, there he was, little Justin Trudeau, strutting and peacocking about like a rent-boy in heat, just registering enough with heterosexual women and gay and bi and bi-curious men, and keeping his rating high by wiggling low. Now, in the last half of his administration, we are seeing his true colours and they are pretty hard on the eyes. He keeps his shirt on now, too. What does this have to do with me? As a low-income Canadian I have a vested interest in social justice in this country for low-income and marginalized Canadians, such as myself. When the final math is calculated, this purchase of the pipeline is going to put Canadian taxpayers on the hook for 11 billion dollars (still not a typo!) I could see through Justin's charm offensive from the very beginning. You see, Gentle Reader, I have spent years in street ministry to socially marginalized people, including sex-workers of all genders, and let me tell you, the most obnoxious species is the straight or straight acting and extremely good looking hustler, and that was exactly how Justin Trudeau was comporting himself before the cameras. I could see what was underneath and it is not pretty. One also has to consider that the Federal Liberal Party, being centrist by profession, is going to do everything they can to stay in power, playing to the left when it is convenient, then playing to the right. These politicians, in my opinion are ethically bankrupt. Even though you would never catch me dead or alive voting Conservative, I will say this much for the Tories. You always know where you stand with them. Stephen Harper might have been obnoxious, rigid, power mongering, lacking in empathy, and not good-looking, but we always knew what to expect from him. He had no charm to offend with. There are other questions and problems here. For one thing, those aboriginal communities who have bought into (or been bought off by) Kinder Morgan. Their excuse is, of course, they want jobs. I think it's a really sad reflection on the state of things when employment is considered as a good in itself, regardless of all ethical and environmental concerns. Any job? As long as it pays the bills and helps us with our upward mobility? Did I mention about our prime minister acting like a rent-boy? And by extension we have to prostitute ourselves just to stay alive? The economy trumps ethics. All the time. And it isn't only the undecided and swing voters on the right that Justin wants to appeal to. There are also his millionaire buddies in Texas, his real bosses!