Democracy Under Assault : Ralph Surette

From the Halifax Chronicle Herald

Democracy under assault: time to wake up

I HATE to be grim, but
there's this gnawing ques­
tion in the air: Is democracy
in trouble? If so, what does it
mean? In both Canada and the
U.S., what's transpiring is as­
tonishing.

In Canada, Stephen Harper
unilaterally shuts down Parlia­
ment with an astounding ratio­
nale: Parliament is just a both­
er, an impediment to doing real
work, and people don't care if
it's shut down.

You'll remember that this is
the language used by gener­
alissimos plotting coups: De­
mocracy doesn't work - it's
just a bunch of squabbling fac­
tions, scheming intellectuals
and protesting students - so
authoritarian measures are
needed to break the logjam and
get things done.

Even more disturbing is the
question ravening above it all:

Is Harper right in his calcula­
tion? Will the outpouring of
outrage and protest aver after
a few distractions and photo­
ops, leaving Harper to rise
again in the polls after the
Olympics and the budget, em-

RALPH SUREnE

boldened to go for another pow­
er grab?

In the U.S., the picture is even
more mind-boggling. Despite
the unprecedented havoc
wreaked by the Bush-Cheney
Republicans - two lost wars, a
near-depression, unprecedented
deficits, the constitution and
due process grievously under­
mined, the hurricane Katrina
bungle, America's reputation as
a world leader and the ultimate
can-do nation badly bruised ­
and despite being decisively
routed in the last presidential
election, the dregs of this party
are still having their way.

As in Canada, where the Con­
servative party is no longer the
Conservative party but the
barely disguised derivative of a
right-wing fundamentalism, so

the U.S. Republicans are light
years away from the party of
Lincoln and Eisenhower ("I
despise those who go to the
gutter on either the right or the
left and hurl rocks at those in
the centre").

With Sarah Palin supplying
the sex appeal and Fox News
and Rush Limbaugh the bark­
ing, the Republicans are now a
gutter party in which the rad­
icals are cowing the rest. Thus,
no moderate Republican sen­
ator, congressman or state gov­
ernor dare break fundamental­
ist orthodoxy and indulge in the
"bi-partisanship" so wished for
by President Barack Obama
without being the target of an
internal kneecapping.

So there's gridlock. The ef­
fect, if it stays this way, is de­
mocracy in crisis where noth­
ing gets done and eventually
something cracks - and not for
the better. The ultimate purpose
of Republican obstruction, in
case you're wondering, is main­
ly to serve the ends ofthose
financing it all, including those
anti-tax "tea parties" - big
business, in which the banks

have three times as many lobby­
ists on Capitol Hill as there are
congressmen, not to mention
Big Pharma, Big Oil, Big Health
Insurance (the stock market
zoomed up when the Repub­
licans won the Massachusetts
senate seat, on the assumption
health reform was dead), and so
on. It's crass and bare-knuckle.

Meanwhile, like the Liberals
in Canada, Obama takes the
high road, ignores the snipers,
and assumes that elevated ora­
tory and civilized debate will
win the day. Will it? Or have the
disruptive forces shifted the
venue of political action perma­
nently to the gutter where they
have a clear advantage?

Back in Canada, here's anoth­
er unnerving thought. It's not
just because of Stephen Harper.
Anti-democratic concentration
of power in the prime minister's
office has been increasing since
Pierre Trudeau. We are now,
apparently, the most undemo­
cratic of the British-derived
parliamentary systems.

Is there a deeper "structural"
dynamic of democratic disin­
tegration at work beyond Har-

per's machinations? And is this
greater disintegration in part
because of our proximity to the
U.S.? After all, the Harper gov­
ernment draws its inspiration,
if you can call it that, from the
Bush Republicans, having bor­
rowed some oftheir electoral
operatives and tactics, and still
cultivates those contacts.

Are we down to desperate
measures in our democratic
life? Can Harper be made to pay
the ultimate price for shutting
down Parliament and other low
tactics, and the Liberals and
NDP actually manage to restore
democratic principle (and just
getting rid of Harper won't, in
itself, do the trick)? Meanwhile,
will a few brave Republican
souls defy the party warlords
and give Obama the votes he
needs to get some things done?

But even if all this happens,
properly functioning democrat­
ic government shouldn't have to
depend on close-shaves and
last-minute rescues.

Ralph Surette is a veteran freelance
journalist living in Yarmouth County.
(rsurette@herald.ca)