Leaderboard

Been talking to a few people in RL about the lousy choices we seem to be offered for political leaders lately, here and elsewhere. We're a country of 37 million people, and it seems to me that none of the major politicians at any level are even people to be respected, much less admired. None seem particularly intelligent, honest or charismatic. None have any real leadership qualities, any vision or integrity, none seem very brave. There's no one on the federal Liberals' front bench that deserves respect. None of the Tories running for the Conservative leadership is more than a second rate or third banana. The NDP are led by a cretin who seems intent on making his already irrelevant party even moreso. Down south, I watched a Democratic leadership contest with two dozen candidates who had no clear vision, no ideas, were not brave, smart or charismatic (except for Sanders, who is a loon). What a dearth of talent. Mind you, it wasn't as bad as watching the Republican's last primary, when everyone involved except Bush was a laughable moron you wouldn't trust to walk your dog. In the UK, Boris Johnson seems like a breath of fresh air mainly because he's at least willing to brave the torment of the press and political correct in saying a few things he honestly believes in. A few of his party seem sane and sensible. Most of the rest of the leadership of the UK are nut jobs, especially in the Labour Party. France is run temporarily by an idiot amid the riots and soaring deficits. The EU is a collection of dull bureaucrats. There isn't one leader in the West that deserves the term. So how come? What happened? Why do we get such losers in politics? Why don't more talented people have any interest? Is it TV and its breathtakingly shallow imagery? The fact most people pay almost no attention to what's going on before voting? Do we blame the lumpen masses for chewing their cud while obediently voting for the usual crew? Is it the lack of time people spend on politics or that they have less time than was once the case? If the voters demanded better candidates would they get them? And what's a better way of indicating lack of enthusiasm about candidates than simply not voting, as more and more people have chosen?

Biden winning would be a boon for China. That fact can’t be understated.

Capitalism involves business. It's hardly Capitalism's fault when the government forbids business to be conducted. As for what Socialism is doing, it's borrowing hundreds of billions of dollars from future generations to lavish attention on Canadians. But someone has to pay for that, and it's going to be done through Capitalism. Capitalism makes the money. Socialism spends it.

Find some instances of Hannity lying for me eyeball. My toaster doesn't lie, so it's a better news source than CNN by default. CNN is not a news source.

1. I think that the redesign would involve pilots that would be fine tuned and rolled out. The pilots would be tasked with creating 'publics' in the mode of the original design of government working for people, who are interested and engaging on issues. For me, this would be moderated online discussion at a local, regional and national level and to me it would be nonymous - ie you use your real name. Don't want to give your real name ? Then don't join. Simultaneously, government would have to start getting used to publics looking into their affairs and demanding to know details on things without filling a FOI. Start small and prepare for upheaval. Government, unions and bureaucrats will not like being scrutinized. 2. Question period would make sense if the government were tasked with a small number of items. As it is, there's no way to deal with the weight of items that need input. To be honest, I would simplify government - see below. 3. Proportional government would simply shut the Conservative party from power and evoke the worst excesses of the Liberal party, which would become the permanent government IMO. 4. Look at the scope of the points you brought up - they're huge and this is my point. Fair society would mean you feel like you are listened to, but not necessarily that you have an impact on the end decision. 5. Simplify government - make large parts of government run by all-party committees with input from the general public. Canada Post used to be discussed in parliament all the time, and now it's not. It's a Crown Corp. Can't we do this with EI as well ?

I think the main reason is rich people's kids. What I mean is, you have a person who is a talented leader, a visionary and innovator. They are able to do effective things that bring about positive results. This individual is the reason things advance in society. After a time of course the individual must pass on... what happens next is where the problem comes in. People are loyal to their leader. The leader's children are considered good candidates as replacement, surely they are like him. Next up you have a generation of rich people's kids running the show. They have the financial backing and connections. They become a "political class". Yet, they didn't have the same upbringing that gave their parent the experience and wisdom to be who they are. The children of the rich were born into comfort and security, and never wanted nor had to struggle to achieve, let alone know what it means to fail. Now from this platform of ignorance they are the leaders of the country. It is not unlike what happens in industry with a large company built from the ground up by one man, the founder, and subsequently fails when his son becomes in charge. For we run our political system much in the style of corporatism, where a board of governors unseen are making decisions who is in the party and who isn't. Then we the people can choose what they present before us. Now, none can arise from non-elite society to become a leader, without having that connection.

Verifiable 19 times out of 20 and via peer review? Why should I believe the numbers coming out of America any more than China? They both have an agenda.

It's working just fine in Canada. It's capitalism that's been failing and falling down on the job as evidenced by the way this crisis has just about knocked it completely off its pedestal. Thankfully socialism was there to catch it and save it from complete humiliation.

Blacks have been warned. Do not stray off the Biden plantation.

I think the increasing media spotlight has a lot to do with it, it puts a ton of pressure on politicians and their families. What sane and reasonable individual would want to go through that? Put their families through that? First, the cable news 24/hr news cycle, and now the recent social media landscape is so brutal. Politicians are under constant scrutiny. 40 years ago that just wasn't the case. Even 15 years ago you didn't have daily twitter freakouts.