In a fascinating new column, George Jonas ponders why Canada is exporting democracy but importing tyranny.
In the narcosis of “progress,” the liberal state clings to its dogmas, sacrileges, holy things and taboos. It guards them as jealously and enforces them as rigidly as the Taliban guards and enforces its version of Islam. Maybe it doesn’t enforce them as cruelly — maybe.
Exaggeration? You decide. In the year 1300, a period we call the Dark Ages, a pig was tried for blasphemy in France. In the year 2000, 200 years into the Age of Enlightenment, on the threshold of the 21st century, in the United States of America, the authorities charged a six-year-old boy with sexual harassment for kissing a six-year-old girl.
Correct … this is TYRANY … under the banner of political correctness … which is the catch-all shield for liberals who desire to control others.
Just remember …the term liberal once had nothing to do with this sort of intolerance.
Liberalism morphed into progressivism over 80 years ago and the root caause is the social disease “socialism”.
Modern liberals are carriers of the disease spreading socialism through ignorance and denial. The fully committed progressives do it deliberately because they are loathsome creatures.
“Liberty’s children began building their brave new world by turning Reason into a deity. That’s when the state turned into a secular theocracy, worshipping shibboleths of its own making as though they were divine revelations.”
George Jonas hits it right out of the Park!
But SO many of us are comfortable with,actually crave government intervention into our lives,as though we’re somehow more safe if Big Brother is constantly on the watch.
Vic Toews just had another intrusion,that many Conservatives were all in favour of, booted back for re and re.
And many of us lament the rejection of “this useful tool in the fight against pedophiles”.
There is always a reason,it’s always about “the greater good”,whether it’s internet spying or forcing old men in rowboats to pass a psuedo-competency test before they can go to a mountain lake a cast a line, it’s always for the greater good.
Thank you Mr.Jonas. This article should be required reading for everyone who thinks they live in a free Country.
Given the Canadian government is not incurring the debt our government is…I would say the Canadians may be more free in a very important way.
Given the Canadian government is not incurring the debt our government is…I would say the Canadians may be more free in a very important way.
the talk sounds like this is the exclusive domain of the left. it isn’t. it is technology driven. just ask all the republicans that voted for the patriot act.
snoop. snoop. snoop. who was it said those who trade liberty for security deserve neither?
As I was growing up I trapped for spending money. I learned the trade on my father’s knee. I was contemplating ridding the world of some intrusive beavers and found out that I would have to take a course and write an exam.
I grew up around lakes and spent hundreds if not thousands of hours on pleasure boats. Nope – don’t have a license and can’t drive one.
Are Canadians a Free People?
No.
And they don’t want to be.
Freedom, correctly understood, is SCARY.
Self-reliance is terrifying.
Better, tyranny with a pleasant face.
Are Canadians Really a Free People?
Not really.
There are a things I want to choose for myself …IE whether to buckle up or wear a helmet or own a nice Glock 19 to take out in the woods to do some target practice …. stuff like that. In some communities people are not even allowed to let their cat outside without a leash.
Much of our freedom to choose is curtailed by the fact that government (IE the tax payer) owns my ‘free’ healthcare and therefore I must comply with their “safety is paramount” policies that repress many of things that make life worth living.
I dont’ always need to be, nor want to be SAFE!
I won’t even get into the repressive taxation and fees and licenses and permits and surcharges blah blah that we all must pay to our extortionists to merely go about our daily business.
Jonas is correct that democracy has allowed the societal exchange of liberty for titillation and the perception of security and comfort. I don’t have much faith that the road to serfdom is reversible through democracy. The supposed best of the conservatives, Thatcher and Reagan were only responsible for brief set-backs to the growth of leviathan states. The certain painful nature of the imminent financial reckoning will determine how soon the flames of liberty are further dimmed, extinguished, and if re-ignited, likely by revolution.
The tree of liberty needs refreshments.
The Dark age mentality seems normal compared to the 21st century wing nuts we have now.
http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Health/20120220/transgender-puberty-treatment-children-20120220/
We allegedly went into Afstan to kill the Taliban, but instead we’re importing the honor killers here. Awesome!
As long as we legally and financially mandate those despicable kangaroo courts, the Human Rights Commissions, then Canadians are not a free people.
As long as we are under that equally obnoxious Charter of Rights, which privileges identity groups over individuals, then Canadians are not a free people.
As long as we subsidize a public broadcasting system, the CBC, with its blatant political bias, then we are not a free people.
“Are Canadians Really a Free People?”
No. And duh! its not even a question anymore. Furthermore I’ll submit we haven’t been free since the Income Tax was created in 1917.
The notion that “society” was entitled to a percentage of your income was the camel’s nose in the tent. Now the whole freakin’ camel is in here. Its eaten our lunch, its taken a dump on the carpet, and its invited all its friends in as well.
That camel needs a big ol’ beat-down, you ax me.
If we were free we would be able to legally defend our homes and family’s with lethal force from violent offenders without going to jail.
Women and the elderly would be “allowed” to carry a concealed weapon to protect themselves from muggings or gang rapes when out in public.
“If we were free we would be able to legally defend our homes and family’s with lethal force from violent offenders without going to jail.
Women and the elderly would be “allowed” to carry a concealed weapon to protect themselves from muggings or gang rapes when out in public.
Posted by: Knight 99 at February 20, 2012 2:32 PM ”
knight99…agree whole heartedly.The only problem is that too many special interest groups are involved trying to stop just that; i.e. police,lawyers,prison guards, hell,the whole so called “justice” system is nothing more than special interests groups.Of course we need laws,but when they start invading every aspect of our lives,they are no longer useful,and do not give freedom,just the exact opposite,tyranny.
Having researched Habitat1, Agenda1 and the Earth Initiative, I’m wrapping my head around the concept that’s been insistently niggling at my brain lately, partly due to my work and also to what’s happening in my community. The changes in outlook are vast, and it’s not only with kids, who’ve been indoctrinated in our public schools. Because we pay high taxes, we expect a lot of government. Because we expect a lot of government, we have to *pay* for the expansions of programs and services. The more we designate victims, the more those designations cost us, and the more people there are who are under the government’s and NGOs’ thumbs. If you’re a victim, you must be monitored to make sure you don’t hurt yourself. If you’re deemed to be a danger to society, you must be monitored to make sure you don’t hurt anyone else. The do-gooders always seem to end up benefiting, through positions, paid work or status. They network with and support others of their ilk.
In my view, the Nanny State is well in place. The regulations being enforced for safety, health, the environment, LAND USE (new voluntary convenants for wildlife sanctuaries on private property are rewarded by lower property taxes), labour practices and job requirements are tightening the system up.
Regarding our right to freedom of expression, that’s being stripped away. In my view, Vic Toews should resign. He didn’t even read the bill he’s been vehemently defending. It’s his responsibility. This bill reflects upon conservative values?
I am not happy to disagree with George Jonas, but 1300 is most definitely NOT THE DARK AGES!
For the historically challenged, a few notes: the Western Roman Empire “fell” in the fifth century; however, much of the civilisation continued on (see “Mohammed and Charlemagne” about this, or Henri Pirenne). In the seventh century Islam erupted into the Eastern Mediterranean, bringing about a severe civilisational regression, both because of the disrupted economy and because of slave-hunting on the Mediterranean littoral. This marks the beginning of the Dark Ages, characterised by severe cultural and economic impoverishment, and a drastic fall in population.
Byzantium was little affected by these developments.
Venice really got going around 900. Then around 1000 anno domini, Western Europe shuddered into activity, and eventually developed a great culture of which our own is the outgrowth. Our legal, parliamentary, educational, and banking and mercantile systems began in this period. They were well developed by 1300, which inter alia was at the height of the Mediaeval Warm Period.
Gad! 1300, forty or so years before the Black Death, was probably a better era for Western Europe than the present. Oh yes, they had a lot more disease (though antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria are proliferating as we speak). One might even by 1300 see a little of the late-mediaeval decadence – the waning of the Middle Ages of which Huisinga writes.
John Lewis
A excellant synopsis, which concurs with my thinking.
Knight 99 at February 20, 2012 2:32 PM
“If we were free we would be able to legally defend our homes and family’s with lethal force from violent offenders without going to jail.
Women and the elderly would be “allowed” to carry a concealed weapon to protect themselves from muggings or gang rapes when out in public.”
A more polite society would result….fo sure fo sure…..respect
Are Canadians Really a Free People?
Not really. We have an elected Dictatorship every 4 years with no division of governmental powers.
If you elect a guy like Harper, you win the lottery. You get a guy Like Chretien you lose big time. The PMO’s office can do as it pleases while our MPS who are elected are stuck in back benches . Than told to do nothing. The Senate is a hive of patronage appointments.
The only true division of powers are the Provinces against the Federal State. Which have been weakened by equalization payments & health care.
NGO rule the roost with Money, while ordinary Canadians are brushed off. There are no limits to our Government. No referendums. Nothing but good will.
Canada is nowhere near a free country. People here have to be concerned about whether they can build, or dig a hole, or cut one of their own trees without asking permission. We are constrained to wear a helmet to ride a bike, seatbelts in a car and take a course in order to operate a little boat. What pets we can have and the number thereof are determined by municipal govt. we cannot produce and sell milk, pork or eggs without first buying an expensive permit (if we can get one). Want a gun? ask permission. Want to home school your kids? see if you are allowed.
COntrary to popular opinion, this is not the doing of the left. At least not entirely. Conservatives are also guilty of confusing majority opinion with right and wrong and democracy with freedom. We have spent decades giving away other peoples rights and freedoms and now we are complaining because some of our own are being encroached.
If you are not willing to defend rights and freedoms in which you have no interest then do not cry when the ones you actually use are being taken away.
john s, but it is done for the noblest of reasons, that being the children of course…well maybe a little power and control thrown in for good measure.
My uncle (a WWII vet) and my dad (Militia service in the 50’s) taught me to shoot and handle weapons before I was 10, I hunted for rabbits, partridge, ducks, pheasants and deer with my dad until I was 12, then by myself after that. I paid cash, at 14, for my first 12 gauge shotgun from Canadian Tire, a single shot that kicked like a mule. Dad taught me how to look after and run a skiff and outboard motor too, I paid cash for my first one from working odd jobs in the area.
Before I entered the Canadian Forces in early 80’s I sold off my Remington 870 shotgun and the boat and motor I used. I passed my Lee-Enfield 30-30, my .22 repeater and my .410 rabbit gun to my brother to use and hold for me until I came home.
Coming home after 20+ years in uniform, shooting everything the government of Canada required me to learn, from pistols, to service rifles, to sub machine guns and even anti tank weapons a couple of times, I find I cannot take any of my hunting weapons back as I am not “certified” to acquire or posses firearms, let alone hunt with them. I could become certified by paying the fees and taking the courses and passing the exams, but I doubt I will do that.
If I want to buy another boat and motor I can, but I now need to be “certified” to operate an item I was using alone on the Atlantic Ocean before I was 14. (not to mention a decade with the Navy in uniform)
My personal wish is for a nice little black market in rifles and shotguns to develop, once you no longer have to register who you are selling them to.
And I’m thinking about a little sail boat, small enough that registration is not required, but I’ve got a skin on frame kayak taking shape in the garage right now.
He’s a brillant writer, and he’s correct our progressive liberal owners treat us like pets and if we stop across their warped line they use the power of the state to persecute us. I’m not playing the progressive’s game anymore, want my freedom come pry them out of my gnarled old hands.
Somehow we seem to think that this is inconsistent with democracy. Democracy is basically just mob rule and always ends the same. There is no turning back now. The majority has already tasted blood and all parties are guilty.
“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations has been 200 years.”
― Alexis de Tocqueville
but it is done for the noblest of reasons, that being the children of course…
Indeed. Fascism, It’s for the Children!
the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury
In other words the government just becomes a huge money launderer. And stupid Canadians like it that way because “we must redistribute the wealth”. What could be more unfree than the assumption that all wealth somehow belongs to the government.
@ Mitchel44
” a nice little black market in rifles and shotguns to develop”
That market has been there since Alan Rock proudly proclaimed that stupid law. In my community I know several people that registered one but had 5 or 6 and several that did not register anything but had several rifles and shotguns. Everyone bought enough ammo to start a small war, as no one trusted the Liberals to stop at mere registration. As for the other money grabs you listed, it shows how bureaucracy has been out of control for a long time now. When all the sane laws are already there, room has to be made for the insane laws. I have a friend who has been trapping for more than 30 years but was forced to take a trapping course. Much the same idiocy you faced. I have had boats for more than 30 years and they can kiss my a5s as far as licence goes. Rather pay the fine.
@ Michell44, while you were serving the Queen and taking her shilling, the bureaucrats with the connivance of the Liberals and Mulroney were taking away your freedoms one by one.
BTW, thank you. Some of us older ones also took the shilling.
“Are Canadians Really a Free People?”
Short answer – no, but we were for a brief period between 1933 and 1982, but after the PET manifesto of 1982 any hope of free society died with our legal tradition of protecting individual liberty.
The 1982 Charter decommissioned our inherent individual civil liberties and section one in the charter declares us now to be a “communitarian” society. In our previous commission as a decommissioned British colony we had inalienable rights of the individual through commonlaw civil liberty. The Individual was equal to the state before law and courts erred in favor of the individual and his freedoms/rights.
Trudeau communitarianism OTH puts the individual and his rights subservient to the “better good” which of course the government is always supposed to represent. They say they have to balance the rights of the individual against the better good of the majority but this is a fallacious comparison and actually negates the reason we right constitutions and bills of rights – to protect the individual from the mob – communitarianism puts the individual back in the thralls of the mob with big government standing in for the mob. And in that “balance” the individual has a feather on his side of the scales and the state has a brick on its side.
With the imposition of the charter, legislators have used section one’s communitarian realignment to suppress the rights of the individual in thousands of legislated statutes. We see the court continuously rule in favor of the state when someone takes the state to court over laws which truncate our security, privacy, free speech, property, self defense, and legal rights. The Oakes test is in itself a farce in that it presumes to protect the individual against the tyranny of the majority but it says it must balance the individual’s rights against the mob’s whims (AKA the greater good) – what a conflict of reason!
In any event as long as charter section one allows the state to trim back your rights you do not live in a free society, because the state will always continue to erode your rights (out of political convenience disguised as necessity) until a full tyranny exists – the draconian firearms act we just rid ourselves of was a machination of communitarianism trumping individual rights.
Are we freer than most of the world who adopt one form or another of totality, yes, but why use that as a benchmark? It’s time we re-instill in ourselves and our politicians that the proper axiom to enunciate a free society is the rights of the individual must be paramount, sacrosanct and vigilantly protected, because if the individual is secure/free, collective society at large is free because the collective is made up of individuals.
BTW: another super article by Jonas – he’s Canada’s gift to the cause of liberty
It was the opinion of an CBC Producer from Hungary that arrived in Canada in the 1950’s.. He was part of MY generation that dared to seek personal success. George Jonas
He said (I paraphrase) that the Great Society of the 50’s was such that when someone had an opinion that was not mainstream folks would shrug and say, “It is a Free Country”…
When some thing happened that didn’t seem right the Folks would shake thier heads and say, “There should be a Law”
In 2012 we have Laws for all things and Canada is not a free Country…
George Jonas has it about right for the greatest generation VS.. Todays shit heads
john s at February 20, 2012 4:39 PM
Aye, Aye, AYE!
Especially your last sentence.
The state of affairs exists because of ignorance, comfort, laziness, and, an almost total lack of concern about the plight of ones neighbours.
mitchel44
When they went to requiring courses to get an FAC, I went to renew mine. Asked whether I had a firearms course I replied that I took and taught firearms courses in the reserves. Ding – not good enough.
Phantom – You forgot to mention the sacred cow of publicly-funded health care – it too has invaded our living space, eating us out of house and home and shitting all over the place. It needs to be chased back to the pasture before it ruins our future. (Pun intended)
The Tree Of Liberty Must Be Refreshed From Time To Time With The Blood Of Patriots And Tyrants.
~ Thomas Jefferson
dmorris said: “Vic Toews just had another intrusion,that many Conservatives were all in favour of…”
Not true. I’m a conservative of a ‘certain age’ and I made a point of both stopping in at my MP’s officed and wrote to the PM and Minister Toews to register my concern.
I respect the difficulties faced by the justice system, but our elemental freedoms have to trump those logistical problems.
On another less important note regarding freedoms, I have an 8′ pontoon boat that I love for fishing. If I row, I don’t need a boater’s certificate. If I put my little electric motor on it, I do. Apparently moving at a walking speed is inherently much more dangerous than the slightly slower rowing speed.
So where on Earth are people free? Can anyone tell me?
So where on Earth are people free? Can anyone tell me?
Posted by: The Wet One at February 21, 2012 12:40 PM
Graveyards?
@ Posted by: Jamie MacMaster at February 21, 2012 10:00 PM
After more than two hours on the net looking for free people on this planet, you nailed it. Graveyards.