Thursday, December 01, 2005

Whigs and Tory's

It is not just Harper and the Conservative Gang in Calgary that have been influenced by the neo-con Straussian ideal of Empire and the rule of the philospher king. So has Liberal Michael Ingnatieff more than even his cousin the philosopher George Grant.

Strauss’s rejection of individual rights led him to espouse political views that Rothbard found repellent: "We find Strauss . . . praising ‘farsighted’, ‘sober’ British imperialism; we find him discoursing on the ‘good’ Caesarism, on Caesarism as often necessary and not really tyranny, etc... he praises political philosophers for yes, lying to their readers for the sake of the ‘social good’…. I must say that this is an odd position for a supposed moralist to take."

THE IDEAS OF GEORGE GRANT*
As philosophy became more technical and remote, George Grant never stopped trying to reach a wide audience. In his writing and teaching, he dealt philosophically with the basic issues facing Canada: imperialism and national survival, the nature of technology, the moral bankruptcy of liberalism, and the claims of tradition in face of the modern. He wrestled with some of the most commanding figures of modern thought: Simone Weil, Leo Strauss, Friedrich Nietzsche and Martin Heidegger. David Cayley explores George Grant's intellectual career, based on interviews with Grant himself, students, interpreters and critics.


The difference today between Liberals and Conservatives, both of whom claim to come from the liberal tradition, is that the Liberals reflect the utilitarian social democrat tradition of classical liberalism, they are in effect modern Whigs.

While the neo-cons who dominate the Conservative movement reflect the Imperialist aspirations of the old Conservative/Tory aristorcracy. America while a Republic of agrarian artisanal virtues has a ruling class that has always aspired to Empire, in mimicry of England. The Southern Aristocratic States that formed the Confederacy and their culture of 'Ladies and Gentlemen' reflect this unrepentant urge to return to the past as all conservatives do.

In accepting Empire Ignatieff is a blue Liberal far closer to the compardor politics of Harper's foriegn policy than classical Trudeau liberalism.

Trudeau liberalism is Whig politics that challenges both the rampant free market individualism espoused by the neo-cons, and its opposite socialism. His was an ideology of invidual rights and freedoms within the State, not opposed to the State. The State's function was too defend and expand these rights. So entrenched was his sense of social individualism that he was willing to trample collective political rights, those of Quebec, to create a made in Canada Constitution and Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Today both these are opposed by the neo-con right and the Soveriegnists in Quebec. Ironic that the neo-cons who extoll individualism attack the Charter, Harper, Kenney, Ezra Levant, etc. but that is because it is both a Charter of social rights and Individual rights. It is Trudeaus legacy, and that is what they hate. The right in Canada has always hated Trudeau and his philosophy.

Todays Liberals embrace not Trudeauism, but Ignatieff. As one would a serpent to the breast. All is done for the expediency of power. Power for its own sake. Their ideology is messaging without content, all is platitude to retain power. Intellectually bankrupt they grab at Ignatieff as their new philosopher, when he is a mere shade of Grant or Trudeau. As a shade his bankrupt ideology cannot stand the exposure of the light of reason.


In this Ignatieff is as much influenced by Leo Struass conservative philosopher of Empire as he is by his esteemed cousin, George Grant. Ignatieff has accepted the existance of Empire and like the flawed logic of his cousin, has concluded that democracy is at home in the American Empire. Hence his extolling how he is an American. Of course in this context like Grant to be an American is to be a Continentalist, we are 'all Americans' now.

Trudeau was the philosopher politician who answered Grants lamantation. In his ideal of a New Federalism, Trudeau challenged the Red Tory ideology of acquiecence to America, and viewed Canada and Quebec as a capable of challenging America on the basis of classical traditional liberalism. Not just a rampant self aggrandizing individualism so common amongst American ideologues on the right but a social individualism. One that didn't say; I am alright Jack I got mine, but said; I am alright Jack because you got yours.

It was nearly twenty years after Grants lament that Trudeau brought Canada its constitution and Charter, that would fulfill Grants dream of a Canada different from the United States. Grant was a Whig, Trudeau was a Whig. Ignatieff is not. He is an apologist for Empire.


And the Conservatives in Canada are not Tories, they are Republicans, and not the party of Lincoln who was also a Whig, but a party of the rights of the shop keeper. Their belief in individual rights are only for those who own, not even possess, property. They would embrace America and George Grant would wail in lament from his grave. For he had warned us of these traitorous dogs forty years ago.

The major themes of Grant's interests made him, at once, a foundational thinker and an interpreter of current events. Deeply concerned with the political and social directions being taken in postwar Canada leading into the sixties and seventies, he also fiercely resisted the new, progressively functional purposes shaping Canadian universities during those years. At the root of his thinking lies his conviction that the liberal project of the Enlightenment, which has shaped life in western society for more than 200 years and is now dominating our whole planet, was a massive mistake--nothing less than a denial, through the glorification of instrumental reason and technology, of the true nature of the world and of human persons. Grant turned to Plato, to the contemporary Platonist Leo Strauss and to the philosopher-mystic Simone Weil for aid in his own intellectual transformation away from this modern view of humanity based on the primacy of will, the mastery of nature, individualism and the shaping of society essentially by market-driven capitalism.

LAMENTATION AND SPECULATION:
GEORGE GRANT, JAMES DOULL AND THE POSSIBILITY OF CANADA

David G. Peddle
Sir Wilfred Grenfell College, MUN

Neil G. Robertson
University of King's College

In 1965 George Grant created a national debate when he published his classic text, Lament for a Nation. The central thesis of this book was captured in its subtitle, "The Defeat of Canadian Nationalism." While Grant sees the defeat of Diefenbaker's government in 1963 as emblematic of the inability of Canadians to sustain their independence from the United States, he argues that the causes of this defeat lay deeper than any particular political event. For Grant, the sources of Canada's demise lay in the philosophical and political spirit of modernity and in the technological domination it asserts. He saw in Canadian Nationalism the noble belief that a more stable, conservative society could exist on the borders of the United States, the nation which, on his view, more than any other embodied this technological modernity. In 1963, Grant argued, the folly, the impossibility of this belief had finally exposed itself.

Warren Kinsellas Pals Support Harper

Zionist commentator and radio host Tovias on Israel National Radio interviews his "good friend" Stockwell Day, of the Conservative Party "Thank God for them". And he denounces Canada's deploarable record of not supporting Isreal in the UN. Listen to it here. Israel has "no greater friend than you in Canada." said Tovias of his pal Day. And poor Warren thought he was there best friend.

A Good Reason Not To Vote For Harper


Harper, Bush Share Roots in Controversial Philosophy

What do close advisors to Stephen Harper and George W. Bush have in common? They reflect the disturbing teachings of Leo Strauss, the German-Jewish émigré who spawned the neoconservative movement.

Strauss, who died in 1973, believed in the inherent inequality of humanity. Most people, he famously taught, are too stupid to make informed decisions about their political affairs. Elite philosophers must decide on affairs of state for us.

In Washington, Straussians exert powerful influence from within the inner circle of the White House. In Canada, they roost, for now, in the so-called Calgary School, guiding Harper in framing his election strategies. What preoccupies Straussians in both places is the question of "regime change."

Strauss defined a regime as a set of governing ideas, institutions and traditions. The neoconservatives in the Bush administration, who secretly conspired to make the invasion of Iraq a certainty, had a precise plan for regime change. They weren't out to merely replace Saddam with an American puppet. They planned to make the system more like the U.S., with an electoral process that can be manipulated by the elites, corporate control over the levers of power and socially conservative values.

More Shaw Quotes

Thought I would share some more George Bernard Shaw quotes with ya all.
Democracy is a device that ensures we shall be governed no better than we deserve.
Self-sacrifice enables us to sacrifice other people without blushing.

Lack of money is the root of all evil.

Gambling promises the poor what property performs for the rich--something for nothing.

I often quote myself. It adds spice to my conversation.

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.

A Real Economist Responds to Harper

The Harper told the press he was an economist when announcing his GST cut.
If all economists were laid end to end, they would not reach a conclusion. George Bernard Shaw
Hmm, I thought he was a policy wonk for the National Citizens Coalition.....anyways here is a response from a
REAL economist to Harpers 2% GSTcut.(which still leaves 5% GST, the Harper is not bold enough to eliminate it entirely so why bother fiddling with it). It is appropriately entitled; Dumb and Dumber.

Harper Hates Government

"I believe that all taxes are bad," Harper said "Better taxes are lower taxes. Government has money to waste, government has money to steal, government has money to spend on benefits for a few. It's time for benefits for mainstream Canadians, hard-working people who pay their taxes and play by the rules." So the Harper hates government why is he running for Prime Minister and why is his neo-con Republican Lite party running to be the government if they hate taxes so much. Taxes fund the government. The government then spreads the wealth around through programs like oh Healthcare, Transfer payments, CPP/OAS, the military, etc. Whats with the rightwing speak about 'benefits for the few'..who are these 'special interests' farmers? Seniors? University Students? Autoworkers? Are these not hard working Canadians ?
Now there has been alot of talk about the hidden agenda the the Conservatives have. It ain't hidden its right here. Its the Harpers former employer, the National Citizens Coalition Agenda for Canada.

We call our vision "The Agenda for Canada".

The Agenda for Canada addresses these key issues:

Financial Accountability
Canada needs to cut big government spending, find innovative ways to get a better return on our health-care investments, and allow Canadians to keep more of the money they earn.

Representative Accountability
The scandals must stop. Canadians need to push for a democratically elected senate, a strong military, a privatized CBC and more direct democracy.

Individual Freedoms and Responsibility
Canada needs to entrench property rights, repeal the gag law and end the Wheat Board monopoly. Canada needs to restore rights to union workers, end CRTC censorship and restore language rights to English speaking Quebeckers.

If Canada’s political leaders will not promote a new vision for Canada, then the NCC will. But we need your help!

Have a read through our Agenda for Canada and let us know what you think. Or, better yet, help us fund an ad campaign that will make the Agenda for Canada part of the national debate.

We need to let Canadians know that there is another option to the failed big government solutions of the past.

Your generous contribution to this campaign can make the Agenda for Canada a reality. With your support we can print more Agenda for Canada booklets, print newspaper ads, run radio commercials and use the internet to get the message out.

Now more than ever Canada needs a positive vision. The NCC’s Agenda for Canada is that vision. Help us get the message out.

From Black to Iraq and Back

Guilty! Guilty! Guilty!

Lord Black
is on his way to Jail, like his role model Al Capone.
Black granted $20m bail after pleading not guilty to fraud

And like Capone he is protesting his innocence, for in his mind he has committed no crime. He is after all a Baron of Capitalism, and for him it was business as usual. But his days of wine and roses are soon to become days of whining about the nosy lawyers and media he has so vilified in the past. And like his other hero and role model, Randolph Hearst, his cumupeance is based on their shared belief in the idea that the rules do not apply to men like them.

The Wall Street Journal article noted that he had a portrait of Capone on the wall of his directors’ room in New York —

Conrad Black & the Hollinger Kleptocracy

Press tycoon Conrad M. Black and other top Hollinger International Inc. officials pocketed more than $400 million in company money over seven years and Black's handpicked board of directors passively approved many of the transactions, a company investigation concluded. A report by a special board committee singled out director Richard N. Perle, a former Defense Department official, who received $5.4 million in bonuses and compensation.

This was published in 2004 and a year later Lord Black is on his way to the big house. What's interesting is that Richard Perle was not just dipping into the Hollinger funds but profiting as well from his advice to the White House and his role in the War in Iraq.

Richard Perle -- who journalist and film-maker John Pilger describes as one of George W. Bush's thinkers -- later pops up again in the 2000 Project for the New American Century document, which lays out the neocon vision for US domination of the land, seas, skies and space. Pilger writes in December 2002: "I interviewed Perle when he was advising Reagan; and when he spoke about 'total war', I mistakenly dismissed him as mad. He recently used the term again in describing America's 'war on terror'. 'No stages,' he said. 'This is total war. We are fighting a variety of enemies. There are lots of them out there.

Plamegate’s Soft Underbelly

Two of the major figures in the production of phony intelligence in the run up to war were Richard ‘Prince of Darkness’ Perle and his disciple Doug "Deer in the Headlights" Feith. They busied themselves during the Bush I and Clinton years with the former in the Pentagon, supervising a massive transfer of military aid to Turkey, and the latter the principal of a firm that was a registered foreign agent representing … wait for it … the Turks. Conveniently enough, Marc Grossman was ‘deputy chief of mission at the U.S. embassy in Turkey from 1989-1992. Two years later, he was appointed ambassador, representing U.S. political, commercial, and military interests in Turkey until June 1997.’

The cronyism of the international ruling class and its pals in the White House knows no bounds, nor shame. The trial of Black will reveal that cronyism to be incipent in the entire neo-con upper echelons in Washington and internationally. Far more important than the Plamegate affair, this could bring down the American Right Wing and its administration in Washington. Oh how the mighty have fallen. Thanks to the gigantic ego of Lord Black.


Kissinger, Perle Leave Hollinger International Board
Nov. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Hollinger International Inc. said directors including Henry Kissinger and Richard Perle are leaving the board, one week after former chief executive Conrad Black was charged with helping to steal $51.8 million from the company. Kissinger, Perle, Richard Burt, Daniel Colson, Shmuel Meitar and James Thompson, all sued for allegedly disregarding the looting of the company, won't stand for re-election at Hollinger's Jan. 24 annual meeting, the Chicago-based company said today in a statement. The board will shrink to 11 members

Two years ago, 'ingrates' began asking awkward questions; today Black faces up to 40 years' jail

Even by the bruising standards of the newspaper business, there has been a large element of schadenfreude for those watching Black's tumble from grace. A hardline conservative, he courted power and influence, gave up Canadian citizenship for a British title and peopled the Hollinger board with the likes of former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger, former Pentagon adviser Richard Perle and Alfred Taubman, the former Sotheby's chairman who in 2002 was jailed for price-fixing. Margaret Thatcher sat on an informal panel of advisers.

He has not emerged well from the public scrutiny. Lawsuits have portrayed him as a bully with "absolute power" over the rest of the board. He allegedly repeatedly threatened to sue or remove directors unless they bent to his will. A series of embarrassing emails has not helped. The Hollinger report contained a message Black sent to a former colleague in 2002, musing on the subject of the corporate jet. "There has not been an occasion for many months when I got on our plane without wondering whether it was really affordable," he wrote. "But I'm not prepared to re-enact the French Revolutionary renunciation of the rights of nobility. We are proprietors after all, beleaguered though we may be."

In a telling insight, Black said in the foreword to David Nasaw's book on press baron William Randolph Hearst; "All his life, Hearst had a conviction, often outrageous but sometimes magnificent, that the rules that applied to others didn't apply to him."