Playing Politics on the Backs of Our Cars

Far be it from me to politicize a war, but this is the way I've been feeling about these magnets for a good while now.

Who says that in order to “support the troops" in Afghanistan, Canadians must also support the mission? People who support the mission, that’s who. The trouble with this position (of course a lot of these people maybe didn’t think this through) is that it makes it a little awkward for regular folk to look critically at what we’re doing over there; questioning Stephen Harper’s decisions around the whole thing is unpatriotic, because dissent here at home over the mission “emboldens the enemy” and puts our soldiers at greater risk.

Barf me out.

The same “with us or against us” logic has of course been put forward in the US regarding Iraq, but it appears that Americans have the audacity to think for themselves. You probably recall reading in November 2006 that the Iraqi insurgents upon learning of the Republicans’ thrashing in the mid-term elections were like, “OhMyGod, we totally love the Democrats!! LOL!!. Check out our blog!!”

Anyway, this is just advance notice to Harper lovers that the Rest of Canada will probably at least talk amongst ourselves about what we’re doing in Afghanistan in the event that a federal election is held here while the chaos continues there. I hope that’s okay.