I wrote this in 2007. SJG.
As the latest politician scurries across the floor from the Liberal camp to the Conservative camp one has to wonder: does it make any difference who the people vote for? We have seen politicians voted into office as Liberals then cross the floor to become Conservatives. We have seen other politicians voted into office as Conservatives then slither across the floor to become Liberals. Is politics just becoming a rotten game played by political cheats?
Do the people need a safeguard against these political swindlers, who have betrayed the trust of those who voted for them? After all, these politicians who claimed to be Conservatives then became Liberals, and vice versa, are really political con-men and con-women. So should we call them Conlibs and Libcons? And since the leadership of both the Liberal Party and the Conservative Party both seem to accept this untrustworthy behavior, would it not be better if both of these two parties changed their names?
They could call themselves the Conservative Liberal Party (CONLIB) and the Liberal Conservative Party (LIBCON) that way the people would know that no matter who they voted for they would at least know they were voting for a Conlib or a Libcon at voting time. After all, con-men and con-women (I’m practicing equality here by naming both genders) have no principles. The people are being conned by floor crossers who pretend to be of one political persuasion to get elected, then cross over to another political persuasion where there is more power.
Of course power corrupts as the saying goes. We see that in these power-seeking politicians, who discard any principles they might have had, for power in the ranks of those they once opposed. They commit political adultery and bed down in their new political homes as if they had done nothing wrong. Then they pretend they did it for their constituents or their country. These political carpetbaggers can justify anything. Or as one of them has said lately: “Politics makes strange bedfellows,” and he could have added, “We screw the people who voted for us” and who would argue with that truism?
Truth has become a casualty in politics today. The people are lied to at election time by these floor crossing double-crossers and democracy becomes a prisoner of political mountebanks. Fawning press releases are then issued from the Conlibs or the Libcons praising the “character” and resolve of the double-crossing floor crossers and their abilities to “improve” the political landscape. It’s all so much political dung, issued without shame and a prime reason why the people of the land hold politicians in such low esteem, and do not trust any of them anymore. The truth is, these floor crossers are devoid of political principles and have in fact lied to the people who elected them. That’s why these two main political parties should be renamed CONLIBS and LIBCONS.
Stephen J. Gray
January 7, 2007.
