In South America, for many decades before the Bolivarian Revolution coalesced in order to repel the genocidal reality of American foreign policy, every country had a Liberal and Conservative party, each run by elites, who would engage in a pantomime of opposing ideologies while enriching themselves at the expense of the poor working class. In Canada, for the first several decades after Confederation, a version of this farce played out in Canada until the working man was finally able to be heard through the representation of so called socialist parties who have only had any influence when propping up minority Liberal governments. Fortunately for us there have been many left of center Liberals who have held back the evils of militarism and unbridled greed which typifies Conservative policies and practices. The other evil that has been perpetuated by right wing entities within both the Liberal and Conservative camps has been their assault on democracy by ensuring the CRTC has been run by toadies who have allowed right wing interests to control Canada's major media outlets. This has resulted in Canadians being dumbed down and lied to constantly which is bringing us closer and closer to the levels of ignorance and stupidity that is the hallmark of the world's most gullible and propogandized populace....Americans. In some respects we are actually worse off...how else do you explain the phenomenon of the prospect of another Harper government when he has muzzled his attrocious slate of candidates and actually advocated that Canadians gamble on a market in freefall. Are Canadians really so emotionally retarded that they would prefer to vote for a leader who "looks" more competent to the world outside Canada than one who despite his flaws is obviously more intelligent and compassionate? I'll be seriously p'd off next week if the Libs, NDP, Greens and Bloc don't form a coalition to ensure that Harper and his Cons don't ruin our country any more than they already have. Read Linda McQuaig's latest blog on rabble.ca to learn about Harper's intent to spend 480 billion over the next 20 years on our military.