Adscam and the persistence of government corruption
I don’t have time to invest in a lot of analysis on Adscam. At least not as much as I’d like to. Joe Katzman has a great roundup of the issues at WoC. Though Joe is Canadian, his blog is decidedly international, and as such, he takes time to explain the details, and draw parallels to American politics, which is also beneficial to Canadians who have become numb to the issue over the last two years.
Andrew Coyne has a series of good posts, and I found
this bit interesting:
What this member of the public wants to hear [from a Tory] is: Don’t trust us. You don’t have to. Here are the specific things we’ll do to ensure that you don’t have to trust us — because this kind of thing will be impossible. That means the sort of deep structural reforms that remove these standing pools of money from temptation’s way: whether by privatization, or New Zealand-style corporatization of government departments. And, of course, by ending business subsidies.
All things the Tories don’t want to talk about.
The Tories have been taking some heat in the blogosphere for being too pragmatic and not principled enough on this issue, that the quest for government trumps adherence to a basic philosophy. This has mostly been focussed on the notion that the opposition is cynically timing the call for an election to achieve maximum political benefit.
But Coyne is right to note the structural issues that encourage scandals like adscam. That While the Liberal party under Cretien may have fostered an arrogant and sick political culture, the principles by which the state interferes directly in the economy make this sort of petit state corporatism almost inevitable.
While not directly related to this particular scandal, I’ve been looking for an excuse to talk about Coyne’s fantastic article (note that this is the most I could find of it online!! Fie National Post for trying to charge a subscriber $4.75 for a single article! Fie!) from last November on why corporate welfare is immoral.
The tories have an opportunity to focus on the single issue that most separates their party from the Grits. The moral arguments against corporate welfare have always been clear, and the issue has clear ties to the dangerous things that happen when government and business get in bed with each other as seen in recent Gomery testimony. In the upcoming election, will they risk offending Quebec by ending Bombardier’s handouts?