A Cancer on the Body Politic

The Liberal party is fighting to maintain a publication ban at the Gomery inquiry, not to protect a man's right to a fair trial, but to prevent the full extent of its corruption in the sponsorship scandal from becoming known.

However sponsorship scandal is merely a symptom of a cancer that has grown on the Canadian body politic.

That cancer is the belief that the Liberal party alone is entitled to rule because it reflects the values and interests of our elites.

We see that belief reflected in the arrogant statements made by politicians that Canadian values are Liberal values. By definition, that makes political dissent un-Canadian. Such is the credo of dictatorships, not democracies.

It is reflected again in the media's unrelenting hostility towards opposition politicians and political beliefs of any stripe, especially those of a more conservative bent.

And again, we see it in the civil service, which has shown its readiness to abandon the long-standing principle of political neutrality.

We have reached a point in this country where one party not only believes that it alone has the right to govern, but also that the government itself is merely an extension of the party.

Such was the case with the Christian Democratic Party in Italy and the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) in Mexico. Such attitudes led to the corruption of both party and government, and then finally to the collapse of both when the people had had enough.

I have had enough of the idea that our national unity can only be maintained through sharp practice and dirty money.

I have had enough of the idea that one party has the right to bribe and intimidate the public, at all costs, to keep itself in power.

I have had enough of the idea that the country exists to serve the party.

I have had enough.

UPDATE: Angry in the Great White North hasn't just broken the ban, he's beaten it into a gelatinous pulpy mass. It's up to you whether you want to click on the Terrifying Links of Death.