There is a long-standing core of the NDP's longest-serving members who have an objective for the Party - yes, they want an NDP government, that is a priority - moreover, the core and established serving members of the NDP also want to enjoy the alienation of the arrogance they faced as third-party members toiling in the shadows for so long - in particular the alienation of the Liberal Party.

Putting an end to this political class arrogance is what the experience of the longest-serving NDP members has shown to be the major and vital challenge for any party representative of the Canadian centre-left.

Stephen Harper first became Prime Minister in 2006 and has already dramatically transformed the old Canada. But with no election due for four more years, we ain't seen nothing yet.

It's in the nature of true believers and ideologues to believe that any means to their sacred ends are justified. This makes them extremely dangerous people. It's also typical of such people that they're often motivated by unfathomable resentment and anger, a compulsion not just to better but to destroy their adversaries. These are good descriptions of Stephen Harper and those closest to him.

"The deformed human mind is the ultimate doomsday weapon."

I was reminded of this chilling warning from the late British historian E.P. Thompson, while listening to Rex Murphy's Cross-Country Checkup on CBC Radio on Nov. 20.

Murphy was interviewing Terry Glavin, a B.C. author, about Glavin's latest book, one endorsing Canada's so-called "mission" in Afghanistan. Murphy was little less than fawning in his praise of the book's refutation of all those silly notions of imperialism.

Trial balloons are the stuff of politics. And Stephen Harper's government floated a pretty big one in recent days -- a suggestion that the government is contemplating a 10 per cent budget cut to the CBC.

They flirt outrageously, those two. A funny sort of relationship, in which the public network bends over backward to be fair to the government, including Tory-friendly voices in all of its work. And Mr. Harper's team thanks the CBC through a steady stream of fundraising letters to core Conservative voters, asking for donations to fight back against our public broadcaster and -- possibly -- to do it harm.