A Harperite Big Lie

[Bragi]

I note that the Harperites have now built into their talking points the notion that voters voted for their policies, and that they have a mandate from Canadians to go to war, cut social programs, abandon Kyoto, etc.

Our dufus media, naturally, report this message uncritically, but it is still a lie nonetheless.

The fact is that the conservatives received the votes of 36 per cent of voters in the last election. What with a 65 per cent turnout, that means they were supported by maybe 1 in 4 eligible voters.

And we know from research that most of these voters were voting *against* the incumbent Liberals, not *for* the Tories, let alone were they voting to endorse Harper's neocon policies, most of which he hid during the election.

The notion that the Harperites have a madate to do anything other than form a minority and implement some kind of consensus agenda is BS.

It certainly does not have a mandate to convert the Government of Canada into an outpost for the White House, nor does it have a mandate to reverse policies that polls show have been supported by the vast majority of Canadians for a long, long time.

Will the neocons eventually pay at the polls for their lying and their arrogance? I hope so, though I am not at all certain that this will happen.

- B