Sometimes it is difficult not to fret over
the evil doings of certain politicians as they work their ways of iniquity
behind polished masks of phoney-goodness. It is easy to forget that they will
one day wither like cut grass and blow away like hollow chaff.
They borrow in their seemingly drunkenness to
fulfill their lofty dreams, but expect others after them to repay.
They give generous tax-breaks to their
friends --- and themselves --- while increasing the burden on the poor and
needy. They take from the underprivileged and give to the rich and then slap
each other on the back saying what a great job they are doing.
The tax-breaks to businesses allegedly lead to more jobs, but in
reality they lead to much higher corporate profits. Workers meanwhile work harder
and find more production squeezed out of them. What few new jobs appear
often pay 1976 wages.
The rich get much richer; everyone else notices their purchasing power
ever decreasing. The politicians continue to proffer platitudes of emptiness
and dangle false flags of hope in the faces of the people like a carrot in
front of a work horse.
Yet amongst the often earned distrust, hate
and contempt one can find towards politicians, one tries to find something good
to say.
This challenge came out of the blue: Name
two good things the Liberal government have done.
The answer came surprisingly fast and sure:
1 – They tore down and ended the toll booths
on the Coquihalla Highway. Whoever heard of a government ending a toll booth?
At ten dollars a car every time --- some paid forty --- on a very busy highway,
that is a lot of continuous guaranteed money for a government to give up. Can
one think of any government that would do that today?
2 – They ended photo-radar, those all-seeing
government eyes ready to hit you with an instant $136 fine --- often more ---
the moment you made the slightest slip. Another easy cash-cow killed.
In this day when some governments think
their whole purpose is to raise money, those were two surprising --- and
perhaps shocking --- moves.