Reason Has No Place In Harper's Government

While I can appreciate the idea presented in the letter by David Dodge et al  to the PM about his stupid change to the census :

A letter to the Prime Minister, also signed by former chief statistician Ivan Fellegi, warns the Conservatives their top-down decision to scrap the compulsory long-form census is eroding faith in the nation's statistical agency.

The approach is, I think, wrongheaded. These men are making appeals to reason and as we are all aware, reason ranks with socialism and separatism as something to be destroyed, by this regime.

Instead, the retired civil servants should have appealed to religion or some emotional hot button issue close to the Conservative base's heart. For example, ending the long form census will cause boatloads of Tamil refugees to crash on our shores because now we won't be able to track them. Or, how about ending the long form census will allow governments to raise taxes without fear of anyone being able to say it is unnecessary, since no one will be able to prove otherwise? Neither of the above arguments is based on fact or reason, or even reality, but those are the kinds of things this government cares about. Reason is the enemy gentlemen and now that you have revealed yourselves allied on the side of the enemy, you will be dismissed at best and have your reputations smeared at worst.

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Wrong Approach

Another appeal to reason over the census, is in the Star Phoenix today. It is a wonderful editorial and should be widely read. Unfortunately, an appeal to reason is the wrong approach with this government. They are immune to reason. What is needed instead is a wild charge, based on irrational fear and tribal hatred -- something designed to appeal to the average Conservative voter.

For instance, opponents of the government's decision to scrap the long form census should say that scrapping it will help Al Qaeda. If we don't know how many Muslims there are in Canada, the terrorists will use that to smuggle more suicide bombers into the country and may increase the chance that our daughters will marry one. It is complete nonsense of course, but it will scare the shit out of the Conservative base, something this government will not let stand.

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