The executive of the modern state is but a committee for managing the common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie. ~The Communist Manifesto

Few Marxists these days would agree with the notion that the “state,” not a thing but a complex set of often contradictory processes, functions simply to serve the interests of the 1%, or that any democratic government has the capacity to drive those processes in one single direction. It isn’t even in the interests of the modern state to do so: instead, governments balance competing forces, within a structure of unequal relations to be sure, but the balancing is essential to win legitimacy and support—hegemony, in a word.

But Stephen Harper apparently wants to take us back to a simpler time. What, after all, do we make of this?

Greenpeace has released a letter from the Energy Framework Initiative (EFI), representing every major oil and gas industry association, asking that the government undertake a major overhaul of six critical environmental statutes that inconvenienced the industry. Five of the statutes have since been replaced or seen major amendments through the dismantling of our country’s environmental safety nets in omnibus bills C-38 and C-45, and further amendments are expected in the near future.

Odd that this set of marching orders wasn’t merely emailed to the PMO. Otherwise, the only thing missing here is the top hats.

[H/t AlbertaRabbit]