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Just shows how quick a corruption scandal can change the political landscape.  Hmmmm......what lesson should we learn from this?

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personally as bad as the liberals scandal was, i'd still rather have them than the conservatives. Mulroney was no angel himself

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Just shows how quick a corruption scandal can change the political landscape.  Hmmmm......what lesson should we learn from this?

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How about "big government sucks and giving them a ton of power virtually ensures massive corruption"? Nah, that's too simple a concept for the thumbsucking citizenry.

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How about "big government sucks and giving them a ton of power virtually ensures massive corruption"?  Nah, that's too simple a concept for the thumbsucking citizenry.

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That's one. Another might be that if you are a politician, keep your hand out of the cookie jar.

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personally as bad as the liberals scandal was, i'd still rather have them than the conservatives.  Mulroney was no angel himself

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Didn't this new guy come out for gay marriage, the pro-life side and against the Iraq war? If that is true and wasn't just an campaign head-fake, he certainly wouldn't be considered a conservative here in the US. In fact, he would be a pariah if he was a republican, one of those moderates the Coulter Brigade loves to denigrate as a RINO, ie, a less than ideologically pure republican.

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Yeah, let's keep wishing out loud.  If we do it often enough, eventually the entire tide of human history will reverse course.   :D

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Yes. There have been thieves always and always theft has been against the law and always have there been law enforcers. In the absence of a perfect result, we can either keep trying or give up. I opt to keep trying to stop theft with laws and law enforcers even though I know that will not stop all theft.

 

"Small" governments throughout history have been just as corrupt, if not more so, as "large" governments. It is not the number of political parties nor simply the size of government that breeds corruption, it is power itself that corrupts. Those that can steal, do. A third-party, to have any effect, would have to have power but with that power would be just as likely to be corrupted as any other party. The idea that a third-party would act as a new sheriff in town to keep an eye on the other two is as quaint as it is unrealistic. Odds are it would simply become another pig at the trough.

 

History is also replete with examples of what happens in the absence of government or some other central authority able to regulate, punish or otherwise keep lawlessness to manageable levels. The Armerican West is a good example. Over the pioneer years there was little or no government, law enforcement, regulation or any other chaos limiting mechanism aside from ones own weapons. The result was murder, mayhem, chaos and lawlessness.

 

There is a reason we have government, it exists because we need it to exist to achieve what we can't achieve on our own which covers everything from a police force to a moon shot.

 

That doesn't mean that anyone should be blind to corruption, to abuse, to the dark side of power. When it is discovered, let the indictments flow and let each bum caught with his hand in the till be fired by the voters.

 

If there is a lesson to be learned here I think it is that our system of checks and balances works best when we have a divided government. You'd be surprised how effective of a deterrent it can be for Senator Bluff-n-Fuss to know that there is someone with the power and motivation to crack open his secret stash of dirty deals and dirtier dollars.

 

....and no, I don't think that is a perfect solution or that it will end political thievery in our time thus reversinig the course of human history. If you have some great alternative to supporting reformers, better laws, better enforcement, divided government and the like, then I'm all ears.

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Didn't this new guy come out for gay marriage, the pro-life side and against the Iraq war?  If that is true and wasn't just an campaign head-fake, he certainly wouldn't be considered a conservative here in the US.  In fact, he would be a pariah if he was a republican, one of those moderates the Coulter Brigade loves to denigrate as a RINO, ie, a less than ideologically pure republican.

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actually yes and no, many campaign slogans of the opposition party were dubbing him as the guy who was gonna follow whatever the US says. he said he wasn't going to change policies on gay marriage and other things you mentioned but that seems weird since it is obviously the opposite of what a conservative gov't is. ANyways it won't last as the conservatives minority gov't won't be able to get the other seats on their sides for many of the bills they would like to pass and it will probably lead to a re-election in a year or so.

 

Funny how yesterday, I spoke to a dude who was involved in organized crime, and his comments were "i ain't voting for liberal, they're too corrupt" :D

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The Armerican West is a good example.  Over the pioneer years there was little or no government, law enforcement, regulation or any other chaos limiting mechanism aside from ones own weapons.  The result was murder, mayhem, chaos and lawlessness.

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Only if you believe Hollywood.

 

Arizona Republic on the Old West.

 

Larry Schweikart, a historian at the University of Dayton, estimates that there were probably fewer than a dozen bank robberies in the entire period from 1859 through 1900 in all the frontier West. Schweikart summarizes: "The record is shockingly clear: There are more bank robberies in modern-day Dayton, Ohio, in a year than there were in the entire Old West in a decade, perhaps in the entire frontier period!"

 

John Phillip Reed, the pre-eminent historian of wagon train governments, says it was "a tale of sharing more than dividing, a time of accommodation rather than discord." One reason: "Far removed from lawyers and courts, the concept of concurrent ownership proved to be one of legal strength not of legal failure, for promoting social peace not internal disharmony," he says. "The overland trail was not a place of conflict."

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So if the Canadian conservatives are narrow-minded hardasses like the American conservatives, at least we won't have to ship our soldiers to the Middle East to fight for oil. We'll pick a fight with each other and kick those damned hosers off of our oil. :ph34r:

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Larry Schweikart, a historian at the University of Dayton, estimates that there were probably fewer than a dozen bank robberies in the entire period from 1859 through 1900 in all the frontier West. Schweikart summarizes: "The record is shockingly clear: There are more bank robberies in modern-day Dayton, Ohio, in a year than there were in the entire Old West in a decade, perhaps in the entire frontier period!"

 

 

Maybe they had better gun control laws in the Old West. :ph34r:

 

 

 

p.s. Go Sabres! 1-0 after 1.

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So if the Canadian conservatives are narrow-minded hardasses like the American conservatives, at least we won't have to ship our soldiers to the Middle East to fight for oil.  We'll pick a fight with each other and kick those damned hosers off of our oil. :ph34r:

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doubtfully, in the next two years, the conservatives will have to side with the socialist Bloc Quebecois and New Democratic Party to get any of their bills passed since the Liberals will most likely oppose every bill passed by the crooks, i mean conservatives

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Only if you believe Hollywood.

 

Arizona Republic on the Old West.

 

Larry Schweikart, a historian at the University of Dayton, estimates that there were probably fewer than a dozen bank robberies in the entire period from 1859 through 1900 in all the frontier West. Schweikart summarizes: "The record is shockingly clear: There are more bank robberies in modern-day Dayton, Ohio, in a year than there were in the entire Old West in a decade, perhaps in the entire frontier period!"

 

John Phillip Reed, the pre-eminent historian of wagon train governments, says it was "a tale of sharing more than dividing, a time of accommodation rather than discord." One reason: "Far removed from lawyers and courts, the concept of concurrent ownership proved to be one of legal strength not of legal failure, for promoting social peace not internal disharmony," he says. "The overland trail was not a place of conflict."

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The perfect example that just because stories are newsworthy doesn't mean they're the rule and not the exception.

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