Which Is the Most Idiotic Green Party in the World?(Viewpoint Essay‪)‬

The deadline is fast approaching. Send in your submissions now. The first annual contest to establish which indeed is the most idiotic of the world's Green Parties is upon us. Many candidates were surveyed. The Swedes, the nutty Germans and Brits, the hypocritical Canadians and Australians and even the Green Party of the United States along with some of its discordant constituent parts. The competition for lunacy is fierce. Here are but a few of the contestants. First, let me present as my personal favourites, Canada's Greens. Their leader, Elizabeth May, argues that we should reduce our individual ecological footprint but at the same time import 300,000 more 'footprints' each year just to strengthen our 'cultural diversity'. This 'Great Multicultural Project' as she calls it, of course takes precedence over any project to protect biological diversity or constrain greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, which her 300,000 incoming footprints will increase. The Canadian Greens are a masterpiece of contradictions and confusion. Ontario leader Frank de Jong told us privately that Canada is overpopulated by a factor of 'four to ten'. Yet he told others, including an Australian audience, that 'population is a red herring'. Now recently, on 30 January 2008, he made the incredible assertion that 'a higher population means a higher quality of life'. (1) Economic growth is no problem either. The size of the economy can increase ten fold, he maintains, and only 'through-put' matters. The party stands for Green taxes. Down with those antiquated fair and progressive income and capital gains taxes. But some party officials like Eric Walton are waking up to the fact that low income Canadians aren't buying it. He now favours a hybrid mix of progressive and green taxes so that the poor don't pay the shot for punishing polluters and shifting to renewable technologies. That's the Canadians.(2) Let's take a quick peek at other Green hypocrites.