"We bless your simplicity but do not envy your folly"
- Thucydides
Tom Flanagan has decided that Stephen Harper is channeling Scipio Africanus in his fight against Stephane Dion. While Mr. Flanagan's comparison seems apt, let me use another historical battle to show how easy it is to get history on your side. My story takes place in Greece and it is a war between a rich and expanding power and an old out-dated army. My historical narrative is the Peloponnesian War. Athens, having rallied much of Greece to its banner through the Delian league, was rich and had the most powerful navy in the world (read the Conservative Party of Canada). They were led by highly regarded leaders who were thought to be far smarter than their opponents like Pericles (read Stephen Harper). Sparta was an isolated city-state that relied on its powerful army for its defense (read the Liberal Party of Canada). The Athenians, in their arrogance, decided to attack the Peloponnesus (read Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal) in the hopes of defeating Sparta once and for all. Starting to sound like someone you know? The Athenians thought that they would rout the Spartans and indeed early naval battles went distinctly their way (by-elections anyone?). However, that's when the Athenians got greedy. They decided that waging war with Sparta wasn't enough, they decided to attack their long time adversaries in Syracuse as well (read the Bloc Quebecois). With their navy (or advertising dollars) tied up in Syracuse (Quebec) the Athenians began losing battle after battle in Greece (Ontario and the rest of Canada). Eventually, the Spartans were able to rout the Athenians in spite of all the advantages that Athens seemed to have at the beginning of the war. So you see boys and girls, history tells us that the arrogant Tories are destined to fail miserably in this election. Isn't classical history fun?
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4 comments:
Great Post!
And they said that learning all the ancient history would never help you in "the real world" ; ).
My favorite part of this is suddenly conservative hack Wilson is on the airwaves (so to speak) claiming that Harper just luvs his country very very deeply, and this election isn't at all about total domination or anything like that.
You just gave me a great idea - a fundraiser in Toronto-Danforth while watching the movie 300. Thanks Aaron! ;)
Who says we're going after the core of Toronto, Montreal or Vancouver?
The NDP can have those, we'll take the rest.
I think it would be a big mistake not to go after the core of Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. If you look at Toronto, the NDP holds Toronto-Danforth, Trinity-Spadina, and Parkdale-High Park. Federally, the NDP has come close in Beaches-East York and Davenport. The loss of another Toronto (proper) Liberal riding would give credence to the NDP's (incorrect) assertion that it is the party of new immigrants, multiculturalism, and young families. The Liberals must gain support in the urban core from young families (some of which are choosing to live in the city and not the suburbs), young urban professionals, and new immigrants with our progressive and fiscally responsible policies. Arguably, the riding of Toronto-Centre has the most diversity (ethnically, wealthily, etc etc), is the most central Toronto riding, and it is LIBERAL.
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