Pubdate: Wed, 09 Jul 2014 Source: Humboldt Journal (CN SN) Copyright: 2014 Glacier Community Media Contact: http://www.humboldtjournal.ca/section/humboldt0303&template=letter Website: http://www.humboldtjournal.ca/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/5525 LAWLESS POLITICIANS It's sad, but in the year 2014 it's business as usual to hear a politician is on the wrong side of the law. Rob Ford is the poster boy for lawless politicians. He received media attention from all over the world for his use of crack cocaine, drunkenness and outrageous quotes. Nearly every late night talk show host, comedian and media outlet took a shot at him. Ford had the opportunity to leave his position this past week when he returned to office after a two-month stint in a rehab facility. He admitted that he has used all sorts of illegal drugs such as crack cocaine, magic mushrooms and marijuana. In addition, he came clean about drinking alcohol at work. But he didn't step down nor did he take full responsibility for his poor behavior. Instead, he talked about how he suffers from the "disease" of alcoholism. He used it as a crutch and claimed the "disease" has been in him since he was born. Imagine if Ford said something along the lines of, "I would like to apologize to the City of Toronto and Canada as a whole. My actions humiliated the country and there is no excuse for them. I chose to drink excessively and do drugs and it led to ridiculous statements and actions." What am I saying, an admittance of fault like that would take integrity and character, two characteristics that Ford clearly doesn't possess. All that said, Ford should have been immediately forced to step down from his position when all of the evidence came out about his drug use. Moreover, he made far too many off-base comments for a man in his position. A Mayor should be a model citizen, not a criminal. In November 2013, Pamela Wallin, Mike Duffy and Patrick Brazeau were suspended from office for spending infractions. To put it into layman's terms, they stole money from taxpayers by writing off inappropriate expenses. For some reason it seems theft in expense reports and fraud are downplayed by not only our government, but also some media outlets. It makes absolutely no sense to me how the person who steals $1000 from a convenience store usually gets a harsher sentence than the accountant who steals $100,000 from the company he/she works for through embezzlement. But make no mistake about it, the actions by Wallin, Duffy and Brazeau are a big deal. They stole from all of the hardworking tax payers in Canada. In addition, they disrespected our government by thinking they wouldn't get caught. Here's the good thing of it all, the illegal actions of Ford, Wallin, Duffy and Brazeau have all caught up to them. They don't exactly seem to have bright futures in politics anymore. Justin Trudeau, on the other hand, admitted to smoking marijuana with a smug, arrogant look on his face. Rather than showing respect to the Canadian law, he justified his actions by lobbying to legalize the substance. This not only shows a lack of respect to law enforcement across Canada, but it also sets a poor example for young people. Trudeau practically set an example that it's okay to argue a law shouldn't be a law when you break it, rather than approaching the situation as a patriotic adult by acknowledging a wrong has been made. Imagine if Stephen Harper admitted to snorting cocaine before he was in office and just said, 'I wanted to try it and I don't think it's a big deal.' A Prime Minister not showing respect to his own laws, the country would be outraged by the hypocrisy. Yet left wing media outlets painted Trudeau out to be a hip and cool politician. Lawlessness isn't cool; it's detrimental to our society. The laws of our country apply to everyone, including politicians. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom