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Is anyone surprised by this? Anyone who believes a government can have a tool and limit itself from using it is naive beyond understanding. Paper documents, l

Is anyone surprised by this? Anyone who believes a government can have a tool and limit itself from using it is naive beyond understanding. Paper documents, lawsuits, and international agreements are all incapable of restraining government. It is completely amoral, and its survival depends on power and control; the only thing that can restrain government from an action is the fear of a backlash that will cause it to lose more power than that action would provide. I don't know how it is in Canada, but in the USA, the people are not inclined to outrage, no matter what the government does.

vzidex 7y ago
Canadian here, it's pretty much the same. All of our political parties are quite bland and effectively different flavours of centrism. Trudeau was re-elected last year despite failing to meet some major campaign promises - most people didn't know or didn't care, and none of the other parties presented a viable candidate. In the time I've been aware of and followed politics (~5 years) I can't recall a time when our country got angry enough about anything to take real action, besides the recent Wet'suwet'en anti-pipeline protests. Most political action in this country is carrying signs with snarky slogans down police cordoned and approved protest routes.
citilife 7y ago
I agree fear of losing power is the only thing that restrains government. But disagree with: > I don't know how it is in Canada, but in the USA, the people are not inclined to outrage, no matter what the government does. That's not entirely true though -- currently in the USA republicans are so scared of standing up to some of Trumps wilder ideas because they will get voted out. Similarly, when Virginia's government discussed imposing new gun legislation, 22,000 people marched (with guns) through Richmond: https://www.npr.org/2020/01/20/797895183/richmond-gun-rally-thousands-of-gun-owners-converge-on-virginia-capitol-on-mlk-d https://www.npr.org/2020/01/20/797895183/richmond-gun-rally-... They might not always care enough to protest in such a manner, but they do, fairly regularly.
- NotSammyHagar 7y ago
  The gun marchers seemed to attract a large number of gun owners from across the region. It'd be interesting to know the state numbers.
- JasonFruit 7y ago
  That's a point; there is a tendency to some protest. But that wasn't really what I meant. I mean that, to control a government, they must fear that the people will remove them in the time-honored fashion.

vzidex 7y ago

Canadian here, it's pretty much the same. All of our political parties are quite bland and effectively different flavours of centrism. Trudeau was re-elected last year despite failing to meet some major campaign promises - most people didn't know or didn't care, and none of the other parties presented a viable candidate. In the time I've been aware of and followed politics (~5 years) I can't recall a time when our country got angry enough about anything to take real action, besides the recent Wet'suwet'en anti-pipeline protests. Most political action in this country is carrying signs with snarky slogans down police cordoned and approved protest routes.

citilife 7y ago

I agree fear of losing power is the only thing that restrains government. But disagree with: > I don't know how it is in Canada, but in the USA, the people are not inclined to outrage, no matter what the government does. That's not entirely true though -- currently in the USA republicans are so scared of standing up to some of Trumps wilder ideas because they will get voted out. Similarly, when Virginia's government discussed imposing new gun legislation, 22,000 people marched (with guns) through Richmond: https://www.npr.org/2020/01/20/797895183/richmond-gun-rally-thousands-of-gun-owners-converge-on-virginia-capitol-on-mlk-d https://www.npr.org/2020/01/20/797895183/richmond-gun-rally-... They might not always care enough to protest in such a manner, but they do, fairly regularly.

NotSammyHagar 7y ago
The gun marchers seemed to attract a large number of gun owners from across the region. It'd be interesting to know the state numbers.
JasonFruit 7y ago
That's a point; there is a tendency to some protest. But that wasn't really what I meant. I mean that, to control a government, they must fear that the people will remove them in the time-honored fashion.