DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENTS LIE, CHEAT AND STEAL

In my humble opinion they may not cheat and steal any better than other forms of government around the world, but out of necessity they've learned to lie better. A democracy gives the majority of woefully uninvolved and ignorant voters the opportunity to exchange one pack of liars, cheats and thieves for a different pack. Geoffrey Stevens in the Waterloo Region Record published this Opinion piece on April 30, 2012 titled "Stumbling from jets to orange juice". In it he details how citizens/voters don't appreciate being lied to whether it involves billions of dollars or merely a $16 glass of orange juice. The orange juice is one more Bev Oda extravagance for which she is becoming well known. Apparently her sense of entitlement has been expanding the longer she remains at the centre of Federal power as a Minister in Steven Harper's cabinet. It includes the unecessary use of limousines at taxpayers expense when most of us consider taking a taxicab to be an extravagance. It also includes moving from swanky accomodations to even swankier ones. Such is life at the top of the food chain here in Canada.

The billions of dollars must of course have to do with Defence Minister Peter McKay and the F35 fighter jets. Quoting Geoff Stevens "No country like Canada, which lacks obvious enemies to smite with overwhelming force, needs to spend $30 billion on "stealth" aircraft designed to escape detection by enemy radar. Not when there are more suitable and much cheaper planes available, ones with proven performance.". This particular issue according to Mr. Stevens is rife with plain old fashioned lying. About $10 billion worth of lying.

Mr. Stevens final analysis is that both examples show a cavalier attitude towards wasting taxpayers dollars and both involve deceiving those who are paying the freight ie. you and I. He feels that the hubris and hypocrisy of a Bev Oda may well in the long run be just as damaging to the Conservatives' credibilty as the billions of dollars they want to swindle us out of for faulty, overpriced and unneeded "stealth" fighter planes.