First the bad news. In the recent Swiss elections, many seats were gained by a party that thought these were the right images to represent their cause.
Gee, guys, what are you trying to say? Presenting animals of a certain color as ipso facto evil seems like it could have broader implications, but I can't put my finger on it.
The good news, aside from me not living anywhere near Switzerland right now, is that Stephen Harper got his ass booted out of Ottawa. The list of Tea Party wet dreams his government supported and sometimes managed to pass is a long one.I'm sure it made some outside observers conclude that Canada is just a huge, cold Arizona without Mexicans. Not so. Harper and the right wing of the Tories were very good at rigging the system.
As to Justin Trudeau, who knows? I know my grandmother couldn't stand his dad, which on a personal level I could sort of see. The future's uncertain. For now I'll settle for evildoers being punished, or at least shushed.
The good news, aside from me not living anywhere near Switzerland right now, is that Stephen Harper got his ass booted out of Ottawa. The list of Tea Party wet dreams his government supported and sometimes managed to pass is a long one.I'm sure it made some outside observers conclude that Canada is just a huge, cold Arizona without Mexicans. Not so. Harper and the right wing of the Tories were very good at rigging the system.
As to Justin Trudeau, who knows? I know my grandmother couldn't stand his dad, which on a personal level I could sort of see. The future's uncertain. For now I'll settle for evildoers being punished, or at least shushed.
2 comments:
Even though some months ago I recall reading an article that described Swiss refusal for construction of a mosque I hadn't really thought of the place as being xenophobic. Then again, perhaps it's only logical that such a wealthy, conservative, essentially white society is deeply atavistic. It's sad but true.
Yes, we were very delighted at having a new PM who is almost the same age as you. If you don't know that much about him (as we didn't) this article is very interesting. Did you see John Oliver's take on the Canadian election that aired the night before? It was classic.
It seemed to us that the entire country united around the idea of voting for anyone but Harper. Unfortunately Tom Mulcair's NDP platform leaned too close to the Conservative ideals (embracing austerity, for goodness sake?) so young Mr. Trudeau won handily.
Like a number of old-fashioned British people your grandmother identified with the political party her family had supported. It was in the blood. :)
I don't really think that most Swiss people are xenophobic, and the quasi-fascist party is still very much in the minority, I believe. I wouldn't say most Americans are xenophobic either. But it's an ambiguous thing. People can be led in certain directions.
That's right, Justin Trudeau is about my age. A little younger, actually. We could have a US president in my age group too, if Ted Cruz wins. I'm not really rooting for that, though. That was a great segment. Kind of a silly law, really. How can you prosecute people who, by definition, fall outside the jurisdiction of your country.
The NDP does seem to have chosen the wrong year to pull to the right. They still proposed to do some good things, but weren't able to cause much excitement.
Associating conservatism with the UK Conservative Party under Winston Churchill probably had something to do with her outlook as well. Churchill might not have been a perfect leader, but the standard he set is one that Thatcher was far from fulfilling, much less Harper.
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