The SBP Archives - Your less than frequent dose of SBP!

I never quite understood the 1960s and its paranoia of communism during that time. It seemed that everyone thought the "Russkies" were taking over and somehow our democratic processes and rights & freedoms would be taken away. And anything that, in my opinion, did things such as protect worker's rights or offer assistance to the poor, well my friend, you are a COMMUNIST! How dare you help the less fortunate! How dare you try to guarantee minimal standards for which your fellow man can live! With that thinking, I wonder if a donation to the church's collecton plate was ever made with suspicion...

Anyway, you might recall when the CBC had a "Greatest Canadian" poll a couple of years ago, and Canadians voted for Tommy Douglas as the #1 choice. Douglas was the man most directly responsible for advocating public access to health care. He had this crazy idea that you should not have to worry about losing your home, job and family because you can't pay your medical bills. A radical idea at the time; now I don't think any Canadian can imagine our society without it. We are very proud of what Douglas did for Canadians, and rightfully so. But others weren't so happy about it.

It was just found recently that the RCMP kept extensive files on Douglas' activities for over 30 years. They analyzed speeches he did, articles he wrote and any contacts he may have had with peace organizations. Could you imagine what the orders for putting surveillance on him were like? "Uh, we have a problem here. Apparently this Douglas fellow doesn't think we should kill each other and instead rely on diplomacy to resolve complex issues. Better see what commie he's talking to next."

The weird thing is, post 9/11 laws almost advocate these type of Gestapo tactics. We can look back and be somewhat disturbed about how the RCMP treated its own citizens, but at the same time not be too shocked. The FBI had a problem with John Lennon. The Maher Arar case also shows how rights & due process can be quickly trampled on.

My point is, we still have a long way to go before we are truly free, even you think you're helping out your fellow man.