You may have noticed that the Globe and Mail invented charity last weekend in response to various irritations: economic chaos, rage-inducing social inequality, declining living standards, loss of hope. Their answer is the New Philanthropy though, in fact, it isn't really new and isn't philanthropy either. I'll get to that.

The 10th anniversary of September 11, 2001 has come and gone. One could not help but notice the media was full of articles on the event, and of public officials and others holding forth on what it all meant, yadda, yadda, yadda. There was no opportunity passed up to pander to the fears and gullibility of the citizenry and feed them fantasies and half-truths. A propaganda event, in other words.

Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper, in his statement on the occasion, classified the event as a horrific act of terrorism. Fair enough, they all got that right, it was. But he also characterizes the acts on that day as senseless and cowardly. Really. I do not think that he is ignorant enough to believe that, but it is part of the official story that he hopes the public swallows.

Here's what I find so unsatisfying about arguing with the Ford brothers. It all gets conducted on their ground. They said there was gravy and there isn't. So they lose that one. They said they won't cut services and they will. They lose that one, too. But we're still talking gravy and savings. It's their turf.

What else is there to discuss? Ah, that's when you see the genius of the Ford position. We are a society that has largely lost sight of the fact that there is anything to debate in politics except how to save money. So even when they lose, they win -- by reinforcing the ground rules. Don't credit Rob and Doug for inventing this mindset. It's been drummed into the public ear for decades by think-tanks, pundits and politicians. But the Fords reproduce it ably.