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Bridge in Troubled Waters


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A couple of years ago, while reviewing my untenable position on politics, I concluded it was a fixed race. The Liberals have the best marketing (who could forget AdScam), the most famous celebrities, the best hairdressers and makeup artists...they know theatrical production. They know what sells and the professionals who can deliver it. Other than a handful of people, how does that serve Canadians?

After far more consideration than the situation deserved I usually did the near-equivalent of destroying my ballet, I voted for an also-ran party. Not wanting to betray my better judgment I thought about what I could do. The concentration of media usually presents two options; vote Liberal or don’t. As always, when the presented options are inadequate, I chose an unlisted alternative. Independents seemed a good idea, if for no greater reason than to have the parties genuinely notice the rest of Canada. Apparently the concept of independents doesn’t exist in our realm. Mention of such an option is usually met with a long silence followed by a return to a responsible discussion on politics. Occasionally, there is a ‘wouldn’t work’ thrown in.

The media once promoted free love with reckless abandon – it wasn’t. Now it’s all about free money – I wonder. Parties, to varying degrees, are given the economic power to present the narrow spectrum of possibilities as a rainbow bridge to an amazing future. Before buying a bridge – it’s your money they use - it’s advised to check the load capacity and cost. Independents serving only the community would have no such power. They would have to appear in public without the marketing or production departments and present locally pertinent ideas. They would have an obligation to listen...even if it’s in the changing room at the gym. We would have to learn to use that voice in parliament to our advantage.

From time to time I like to check I am not confusing good luck with good planning. Or good marketing with good intentions.

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1 hour ago, Nefarious Banana said:

Don't know where you call home but, if you're a westerner . . . . would you vote for a separation type party?

The system we have now doesn't work.

The system works. Not for the taste of everyone, maybe you're not a winner you would like to be in that system, or maybe most of us aren't winners in that system, but is that a legitimate metric that a system works?

Canada has been existing without civil strife since the beginning, unlike France which has 5 Republics. The system never has had a revolution against it unlike the South were the country broke in half, or it managed them so well that they have been inconsequential for the country... IMO Québec independence was the biggest threat, but the system cheated its way to win the 95 referendum, and no uprisings occured, no violent incident happened toward the system which created all the cheating, because they are effective at cheating.  The rich and the elite in this system really are living well here in our beautiful neighborhoods. The poor and middle class live quite well, it is not Haiti by any stretch of the imagination. Canada is also a first world country, with running water, education, healthcare... even if it is substandard to our ideals, it is still somewhat working. Our money has decent value internationally.

So yes, things to fix here and there. But throw the baby with the bathwater is somewhat dumb, and somewhat is the Tories' rallying cry since Trudeau took office in 2015 and it is really petty.

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1 hour ago, Nefarious Banana said:

would you vote for a separation type party?

I don’t see separation or parties as a viable solution to any of the comparatively small issues Canada faces. We have the technical ability to distribute decision making across the country and include all concerned Canadians in the process. There are very powerful entities around the world who may not have our best interest at heart. It is much harder for them to influence 338 independent representatives answering directly to the ridings of 38 million people than twenty or so. We don’t need to break the country up into smaller political pieces, we just need to allow all the pieces to have equal rights and opportunities.

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Just now, Nefarious Banana said:

You're wrong pal . . . . the system works for Quebec, and the GTA only.  I want to see this country cleaved in half.  

 

So, outside of Quebec and GTA, there are no running water, no education, no roads, no infrastructure, no no nothing? Total chaos and anarchy?

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12 minutes ago, Nefarious Banana said:

What's your point?  Care to clarify?

That the system we're living in isn't working that badly. Perfectible is the term.

And yes it may have disparities, favorizing some parts of the country. It is unfair, I agree. But not working is a stretch.

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27 minutes ago, Scallywag said:

I don’t see separation or parties as a viable solution to any of the comparatively small issues Canada faces. 

A woman in Iran faces 'small issues' as far as her husband is concerned. From her POV, and from the POV of freedom advocates, her issues are quite extreme. 

Western separation issues are small from Quebec's POV. Quebec has punitive agreements with other provinces for Hydro power, they get special status, they have a larger proportion of the vote than they should, the federal government strips jobs from other provinces and moves them to Quebec, and Que receives boatloads of money from confederation. So what if Alberta doesn't have as many MPs as they should, or if their resources are on hold because of the will of Quebecers, or if Albertans only ever give money into confederation and then get small loans in return if they come on hard times? 

Separation is important. Canada sucks, bigtime. 

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This country is going to blow if Trudeau is not stopped. People just need to hold their noses and vote Otoole.  Both America and Canada went nuts with the spending. And we spent the most and got the less bang for our buck. The money he gave away to teenagers living at home would have bought a brand new navy.

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2 minutes ago, PIK said:

This country is going to blow if Trudeau is not stopped. People just need to hold their noses and vote Otoole.  Both America and Canada went nuts with the spending. And we spent the most and got the less bang for our buck. The money he gave away to teenagers living at home would have bought a brand new navy.

Doom is upon us! 

Sometimes Tories are like SJWs, instead of Trump Derangement Syndrome we get Trudeau Derangement Syndrome. He is corrupt and probably not the best who could hold the position, but he not Stalin. 

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Divide and conquer is such an old and still very effective story. When citizens cannot agree between themselves, they need wise and benevolent arbiter(s) and expert(s). And those need to be compensated fairly, generously and entitled .. even more generously.

Look at bureaucracy compensation packages, they are right there at the world's highest. Now look at the services, education, healthcare, municipal are they anywhere near world's best? Add that without checks and controls, positive feedback from the society innovation will be slower and costs ever higher. A trivial one day repair of a few boards in the local park took over two months. The position is wrong already, and the vector is pointing in the wrong direction too.

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2 hours ago, QuebecOverCanada said:

The system works. Not for the taste of everyone, maybe you're not a winner you would like to be in that system, or maybe most of us aren't winners in that system, but is that a legitimate metric that a system works?

Canada has been existing without civil strife since the beginning, unlike France which has 5 Republics. The system never has had a revolution against it unlike the South were the country broke in half, or it managed them so well that they have been inconsequential for the country... IMO Québec independence was the biggest threat, but the system cheated its way to win the 95 referendum, and no uprisings occured, no violent incident happened toward the system which created all the cheating, because they are effective at cheating.  The rich and the elite in this system really are living well here in our beautiful neighborhoods. The poor and middle class live quite well, it is not Haiti by any stretch of the imagination. Canada is also a first world country, with running water, education, healthcare... even if it is substandard to our ideals, it is still somewhat working. Our money has decent value internationally.

So yes, things to fix here and there. But throw the baby with the bathwater is somewhat dumb, and somewhat is the Tories' rallying cry since Trudeau took office in 2015 and it is really petty.

The system barely works, and in some cases not at all. Canada exists without civil strife because Canadians are to damn lazy to really do anything about it, in fact if it does not involve them personally nobody gives a shit, here are some examples, look at all the indigenous issues we have, and why is the list so long, look at Quebec, Any one concerned they have not signed onto the constitution ? or why can we not run a pipeline from the west coast to the east coast? Canada has a lot of major issues to sort out before it is more than average place to live..

Explain to me this can an everyday person run for office, have you checked on the criteria to run for office it pretty much takes me and you out of the race. And yes the 95 referendum did end without violence or strife, But what would have happened had the separatist won that day, why did the government have so many military units on stand by that day...

Yes we have a pretty good standard of living, unless your poor that is, and yes most of us have running water, some of it is poisoned with mercury for over 20 years now, don't drink it but it does run...a lot our infra structure is in need of repair.  We have some of the highest taxes in the world, our health care is a joke, unless you like to wait over 18 hours to see a doctor, thats for broken bones...

Inter national we are a joke, our NATO allied have running jokes about the entire nation, We can not even look after out own sovereignty in most cases, to the rest of the world our word means nothing.

No every things is fine, in my world just keep the blinds closed.

 

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1 hour ago, PIK said:

This country is going to blow if Trudeau is not stopped. People just need to hold their noses and vote Otoole.  Both America and Canada went nuts with the spending. And we spent the most and got the less bang for our buck. The money he gave away to teenagers living at home would have bought a brand new navy.

The majority of Canadians do not see it that way, they see dollars going into their pockets and like it, regardless of what it does to the country... Unless there is a miracle Justin and his merry band of crooks will get back in, or so says the polls... O Toole is he really up for the job, i mean there is a lot to fix... has anyone heard his plan yet, all I've heard is them blasting Justin everyday on Cpac. he has yet to offer any real solutions... 

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56 minutes ago, Michael Hardner said:

We keep hearing of this doom... 

 

Maybe the people saying it... themselves aren't doing so great?

 

I do feel bad for them.

Maybe this is the problem, everyone is content with how things are, or they see that there is nothing they can do and just shrug their shoulders and say it could be worse. Nothing will be done to fix anything if people don't voice their concerns maybe not here but to their MP's atleast. Personally i think waiting for 18 hours with a broken wrist is not good health care, nor is it fair, but really minimal for a first world nation.  

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10 minutes ago, Michael Hardner said:

I'm thinking that you haven't been a lot of places.  We have it pretty good, show some gratitude for what our ancestors have given us.

I'm thinking your wrong Michael, I've lived in Europe for 5 years and traveled a lot. served in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East   I've also been to most of the worlds shit holes, And every time we landed back in Canada i kissed the ground and thanked god for my good fortunes... that does not mean there is NOT  lots of room for improvement, or things are not as rosy as you see them... You can sit here and be content or we can steadily improve what we have for the next generation, like the generation before us... 

Edited by Army Guy
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7 hours ago, PIK said:

People just need to hold their noses and vote Otoole.  

O'Toole is like a dude whose balls are in his wife's pocket. I hate to use the term cuck, because posters throw it around here faster than Trudeau sends $10B dollar 'aid packages' to human rights abusing nations, but that's what he seems like now. 

O'Toole jumps through hoops wearing a clown nose to satisfy the Liberal media and all they want to do is get their own noses another inch further up "Trudeau's glorious b-hole".

Being Trudeau-lite won't work. No one can beat Trudeau at his own game (virtue signalling). He'll throw this whole country under the bus just to get an extra vote. "We Canadians are the scum of the earth! We're racist, genocidal assholes who all loved sending 1stN children to hellholes just to get raped! I'm so ashamed to be one of you, but if you want any form of redemption, the only thing that you can do is vote for me. Look at me holding a Teddy Bear by this grave. Awwwww, how can you not love me?

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10 hours ago, WestCanMan said:

Separation is important. Canada sucks, bigtime. 

Politics is global. Political power is global. I don’t see how creating a less significant subset of this country will help solve any problem. Canadians, for the most part, are not using the political power we have. No solution to any problem we have now will come from continuing to do what we have been doing or emulating it with a new identity or party.

We may have to get actively involved, even if it means socializing (as in person) for a few hours every month. 

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As a practical way of effecting meaningful change the existing system is very much useless. It cannot change and it admitted it time and over again, "such a can of worms" and "not to be touched with a stick".

The first step is to understand and admit it. The next can be, as the system cannot be changed by itself, to guide it into controlled crisis where it will have no choice but to change. The "Equitability Act" can be one such project - it is easy to understand for the general population, impossible to deny rationally and if implemented, will make the system work not only for itself but for the citizens as well, or at least not to reward itself at their expense. Of course we would have to look very carefully for the loopholes in the boring longreads that it expertly creates (results for the citizens, solving real problems of the society entirely different matter that can wait a few decades of automatic annual raises).

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5 hours ago, Scallywag said:

Politics is global. Political power is global. I don’t see how creating a less significant subset of this country will help solve any problem. Canadians, for the most part, are not using the political power we have. No solution to any problem we have now will come from continuing to do what we have been doing or emulating it with a new identity or party.

We may have to get actively involved, even if it means socializing (as in person) for a few hours every month. 

We're trying to make a banana out of apples and oranges.  Canada as is . . . is broken.  It's not working for a growing segment of the population/area.  Quebec is not a member of this country.  The four western provinces and the Yukon could 'go it alone' and be a very viable country.  Ontario, and the parasitic Quebec need the west more than we need them.  

Time for a big change.

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