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Browsing the China Daily website I was surprised to find out how the international community is becoming aware of our decadent democracy. Our Canadian patriot Jean Chretien, along with any other politician in the country, have for a long time worked together to lower the standard of our social well being. And in doing so they have used the advertising and marketing gimmicks of their corporate friends to tell Canadians of our world wide reputation as champions of democracy, as having the best health care in the world, and having Canada as the best place to live in the world.

But our glorious past is not enough to hold back the discontent of people. And Jeffrey Simpson has just written the book "The Friendly Dictatorship" where he compares Prime Minister Jean Chretien to Louis XIV of France who used to say "L'etat, c'est moi" (I am the state). Jeffrey Simpson takes aim at the massive centralization of power in one man's control within the trappings of a parliamentary system and to the political ineffectiveness of the opposition parties to Chretien's Liberal party.

There is no doubt that our democracy is decadent, and it is my contention that it will take more than stronger opposition parties to reestablish democracy. And this is evident with the trend to align our legal ethics to our business practices to make money in the global market place. Sometime ago I described the root of our decadent democracy to the ideological hegemonic values of our politicians and corporate friends, and this position is echoed by Duff Conacher, director of Democracy Watch, when he says that "We have a very complete system to create the illusion of democracy but when it really gets down to it, if you look at how decisions are made, policies are formed, laws are passed and how the whole system of government operates, you can't call it democracy."

Today, democracy cannot be delegated to governments or corporations. Governments and corporations are the culprits of our social and economic divisions, and they are not accountable for their misdeeds. Therefore, democracy is not a matter of voting for one party or another, democracy is a matter of citizenship, that is the responsibility to act on behalf of one another.

Some references

Related social and economic articles published by Ensign

Canada's Sun King, Shanghai Star. 2001-08-23 http://chinadaily.chinadaily.com.cn/star/2001/0823/cn8-1.html

Canadian Politics and Neoclassical Economics: Lack of Democracy and Ideological Hegemony, by Mario deSantis, August 21, 2001 http://www.ftlcomm.com/ensign/desantisArticles/2001_400/desantis417/hegemony.html

Lawyer Bob McKercher: "Ethics have become a moving target of escalating issues", by Mario deSantis, August 16, 2001 http://www.ftlcomm.com/ensign/desantisArticles/2001_400/desantis415/movingtarget.html

Democracy Watch http://www.dwatch.ca/