Can there be any greater illustration of the difference between Canada and the U.S. than last night? While George Bush is staging yet another ‘explanation’ of the war in Iraq, our parliamentarians are recognizing the right of same sex couples to marry. Yes, we’re all about protecting minorities from the tyranny of the majority, or so I like to think, and they’re all about the tyranny of the minority.
The “or so I like to think” part refers to the startling number of people I’ve seen on TV or who have written to their newspapers to complain that they weren’t involved in the decision to legitimate same sex marriage. Now you know how I feel about this already (see an earlier post), but since when do we have a referendum on matters relating to human rights and personal freedom? I mean if that was the case, we wouldn’t have become the bastion of multiculturalism we are today since it seems to me at one time or another there have been great numbers of people who have sought to marginalize native people, tax Chinese-born Canadians and decline entry to Jewish refugees into this fine land. Should we have had a vote on all those things? Kinda sounds like a bad idea in hindsight, eh?
Yes, times are a changin’ folks and this is another step towards our goal of a truly just society, to borrow a phrase from Mr. “state doesn’t belong in the bedrooms of the nation” Trudeau. Sometimes leadership means having your ear to the ground, and sometimes it means standing at the front, pulling along the kicking and screaming bunch towards what’s right.
Kudos to those parliamentarians, whether because of public opinion or respect for human rights, voted to make our nation a bit more inclusive this morning than it was yesterday afternoon.
The “or so I like to think” part refers to the startling number of people I’ve seen on TV or who have written to their newspapers to complain that they weren’t involved in the decision to legitimate same sex marriage. Now you know how I feel about this already (see an earlier post), but since when do we have a referendum on matters relating to human rights and personal freedom? I mean if that was the case, we wouldn’t have become the bastion of multiculturalism we are today since it seems to me at one time or another there have been great numbers of people who have sought to marginalize native people, tax Chinese-born Canadians and decline entry to Jewish refugees into this fine land. Should we have had a vote on all those things? Kinda sounds like a bad idea in hindsight, eh?
Yes, times are a changin’ folks and this is another step towards our goal of a truly just society, to borrow a phrase from Mr. “state doesn’t belong in the bedrooms of the nation” Trudeau. Sometimes leadership means having your ear to the ground, and sometimes it means standing at the front, pulling along the kicking and screaming bunch towards what’s right.
Kudos to those parliamentarians, whether because of public opinion or respect for human rights, voted to make our nation a bit more inclusive this morning than it was yesterday afternoon.
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