The Winter of Our Discontent?

Salim Mansur, writing in the Toronto Sun, waxes Shakespearean:

As the long federal campaign unfolds, it might well become Canada's political winter of discontent.

But at some point during this period it will be worthwhile if Canadians reflect on the price people have paid for democracy — and how it is not to be taken for granted.

... Securing freedom and imposing democracies on Germany and Japan after World War II ... required a coalition of willing allies united by their commitment to democracy, and Canadians of that generation carried their responsibility with pride and devotion of a free people.

Canadians, in their winter of discontent, will likely remain preoccupied with domestic quarrels and wishes, however insignificant these are in the larger context of a world where evil is perpetrated by men — as in Darfur — and peril looms as Iran seeks to acquire nuclear capability.

The story of Iraq is a reminder that some people somewhere paid the price for those in democracy to enjoy freedom to choose how they will live and who will govern them.

It's a valuable reminder.