Province of New Brunswick Enters Dictatorship
Saturday, 17. March 2007, 21:43:47
I don't usually talk about politics. The whole notion of it disgusts me. But as of today, my home province of New Brunswick finds itself in a dictatorship.
The new Liberal government presented their budget and what always happens is there is a discussion on each item. One item was a $10,000 tuition rebate. After lengthy discussion, the Liberals made a motion to adjourn the discussion. Another item was adjourned before discussion even began. Basically, this effectively stops the purpose of having an Opposition and government itself. The party in power is usually required to defend their position. Without this, the party in power is beyond reproach. This is effectively a dictatorship.
The Opposition walked out in protest for a brief moment. This is something that has never happened before where the party in power does not follow the normal democratic procedures. There was talk about what to do, but decided to end the last 45 minutes of Friday's session for the time being.
I don't know what it is lately, but there seems to be a heck of a lot of self-righteousness. No concern for what their actions mean and what devastation it can produce in the long run. They are right and everyone else is wrong. That's their motto.
I don't care about what party is in power. I hate them both equally. I did vote, but for neither party. But if I want my voice heard, I cannot call my elected MLA because his voice doesn't count either. He (or she in other districts) cannot present the voice of its constituency. As bad as I think the current system is, I don't think shutting out discourse is the way to move forward.
The only reason I'm mentioning this local event is because it's getting more pervasive. Those that get into power seem to go overboard. By a lot. The new party has only been in power a few months and they're already in hot water. They're cutting everything and raising taxes. Any idiot can do this. I'm not sure why this party ran at all if this is all they were gonna do. On top of this, they've allocated $60 million to give to a bank. I'm not joking. We're a tiny, tiny province. Many cities elsewhere have more people than our entire province. I think $60 million to a bank may not be the best use of our assets. Plus, federal government injection of cash isn't present in the current budget in direct contradiction to procedure.
However, I think this is more a common trait in lawyers. They truly do believe they can do anything they want. Some lawyers have told me as much. The system can be as good as you want, but as long as people think they have the right to do anything they want and that no one has the right to question them, things will only get worse. It's happening in the US. It's happening here. It happens in most organisations. It's a trait that is promoted.
Am I worried? Not really. New Brunswick is in bad enough shape. Getting worse is not really possible around here although the little good that was done in recent years will be eroded. Basically, it ends up being one set of lawyers angry with another set of lawyers. They start using lawyer tactics on each other instead of on the general populace. In fact, I'm actually smiling a little that they're getting a little taste of their own medicine. Unfortunately, lawyers never learn. They're only concerned in being right. That's how they are trained. Tomorrow, lawyers will be at it again with something else. I wish I could pass a bill. Lawyers beware if the public ever gets in power. Reality TV just got a whole lot more interesting.
I'll say again that leaving the law to lawyers is a sure way to destroy any country. Lawyers destroy things. Not once has the law ever created anything. Lawyers don't understand this. Neither do they understand that the law is something you use as a last resort and that it'll never, ever define what is morally right, just or what's proper in society. Remember, if someone mentions the law then the situation has degraded so much that there is no other recourse than to use the law. Get out right away. The option of last resort has been used.
One day I hope we'll get rid of lawyers completely. Or at least the fact that they are self-regulated.
The new Liberal government presented their budget and what always happens is there is a discussion on each item. One item was a $10,000 tuition rebate. After lengthy discussion, the Liberals made a motion to adjourn the discussion. Another item was adjourned before discussion even began. Basically, this effectively stops the purpose of having an Opposition and government itself. The party in power is usually required to defend their position. Without this, the party in power is beyond reproach. This is effectively a dictatorship.
The Opposition walked out in protest for a brief moment. This is something that has never happened before where the party in power does not follow the normal democratic procedures. There was talk about what to do, but decided to end the last 45 minutes of Friday's session for the time being.
I don't know what it is lately, but there seems to be a heck of a lot of self-righteousness. No concern for what their actions mean and what devastation it can produce in the long run. They are right and everyone else is wrong. That's their motto.
I don't care about what party is in power. I hate them both equally. I did vote, but for neither party. But if I want my voice heard, I cannot call my elected MLA because his voice doesn't count either. He (or she in other districts) cannot present the voice of its constituency. As bad as I think the current system is, I don't think shutting out discourse is the way to move forward.
The only reason I'm mentioning this local event is because it's getting more pervasive. Those that get into power seem to go overboard. By a lot. The new party has only been in power a few months and they're already in hot water. They're cutting everything and raising taxes. Any idiot can do this. I'm not sure why this party ran at all if this is all they were gonna do. On top of this, they've allocated $60 million to give to a bank. I'm not joking. We're a tiny, tiny province. Many cities elsewhere have more people than our entire province. I think $60 million to a bank may not be the best use of our assets. Plus, federal government injection of cash isn't present in the current budget in direct contradiction to procedure.
However, I think this is more a common trait in lawyers. They truly do believe they can do anything they want. Some lawyers have told me as much. The system can be as good as you want, but as long as people think they have the right to do anything they want and that no one has the right to question them, things will only get worse. It's happening in the US. It's happening here. It happens in most organisations. It's a trait that is promoted.
Am I worried? Not really. New Brunswick is in bad enough shape. Getting worse is not really possible around here although the little good that was done in recent years will be eroded. Basically, it ends up being one set of lawyers angry with another set of lawyers. They start using lawyer tactics on each other instead of on the general populace. In fact, I'm actually smiling a little that they're getting a little taste of their own medicine. Unfortunately, lawyers never learn. They're only concerned in being right. That's how they are trained. Tomorrow, lawyers will be at it again with something else. I wish I could pass a bill. Lawyers beware if the public ever gets in power. Reality TV just got a whole lot more interesting.
I'll say again that leaving the law to lawyers is a sure way to destroy any country. Lawyers destroy things. Not once has the law ever created anything. Lawyers don't understand this. Neither do they understand that the law is something you use as a last resort and that it'll never, ever define what is morally right, just or what's proper in society. Remember, if someone mentions the law then the situation has degraded so much that there is no other recourse than to use the law. Get out right away. The option of last resort has been used.
One day I hope we'll get rid of lawyers completely. Or at least the fact that they are self-regulated.
WIDGETIZE