Every now and then someone will come up with a really fresh idea that simply grabs the imagination and won't let go.
Someone just like Danneau who, in a comment to the previous post, wrote this:
Disband both Libs and Cons, caution Dippers, then relaunch elections restricting anyone from previous admins from holding office. They had the chance and screwed the pooch.Since Confederation one of these two gangs has had the reins of power. One gets power for two to three terms then it's the other outfit's turn to reign for two to three terms. That rotation works to their mutual advantage and to our perpetual disadvantage.
Two to three terms in power is about all the public can stand of these legislative hooligans, blackguards and general reprobates. We get to the point where we can no longer stomach the sound of their voices or the look of their faces. That's when they get to trade places. The new bunch comes in, essentially holding the place for the last bunch until it's their turn to rotate again.
There is this thing called "institutional memory." It's a body of collective knowledge that is passed along from old hand to newbie. "That's the way it's done because that's the way we've always done it." There's a lot of value in that - consistency, predictability, etc. - but might that be a double edged sword? Are old solutions an impediment to the thinking needed to respond to new and unfamiliar challenges?
The Trudeau government has been in power since 2015. They took Ottawa by storm, arriving with a load of fresh faces and new ideas. Then they wasted little time turning old and weary, governing as though Canada was still in the 80s. Neoliberalism, petro-state energy policy, the pursuit of perpetual, exponential growth - barely paying lip service to the crises of the day.
What do you think the vote count would be if this October's ballot listed Conservative, Liberal, New Democrat or "none of the above"?
I think Danneau is onto something. It's time to give federal politics a "purge" (that's not the word I was going to use). No more old men masquerading as young blood. No more inherited institutional loyalties to accountancies (KPMG/Isle of Man), construction contractors (SNC-Lavalin), energy giants, or the corporate media cartel, relationships that can obscure or defeat the public interest.
I think it's time for fresh thinking. What do you think?
8 comments:
I have always thought that "none of the above" on the ballot would show some interesting numbers. People don't want to with hold their vote they want it to count literally. I would love the reinstatement of the dollar per vote for those other parties (Green) who were having trouble raising capitol. I remember voting Green in the days before Harper changed things. Times weren't much different in the dark days of the Harpercons because we had no choice in the Liberals and the N.D.P. were dicking around. Ps, what year is your bike? I'm launching my "69" Thunderbolt this summer
The Lightning? It was a '69. I bought it from the legendary Harvey Owen firm in the Elephant & Castle. I strolled in with a fistful of traveler's cheques (remember them?) determined to get a Norton Commando. Then I saw the Lightning with that unique tank on a floodlit turntable. It was a limited edition with a few engine tweaks. I had to have it - and so I did.
I did locate the same model, I believe it was in France, and toyed with the idea of buying it. Instead I decided to remain with my 2006 BMW R1200GS.
I rode the BSA through the UK, France, Germany, Spain and into North Africa. I also used it to commute to university classes. Then, as career beckoned, I would up selling it.
The Beemer has been a long-distance mule. It will handle rutted dirt roads and fields and is masterful when you need to log serious miles. It has taken me on several runs along the Pacific Coast Hwy., out to Toronto, down to Cabo, anywhere I thought to go.
The Lightning was 30's technology and not particularly reliable. When it was working, however, it was a beautiful all-day ride. That's the thing. The BMW is about as attractive as a snow blower. That BSA Lightning was pure art, real eye candy.
What has been really disappointing for me is the thought that this bunch was the new yong blood. And, so far, I'm not impressed by any of what is supposed to be the new young blood.
Owen, going back a decade or more ago I would list various problems, natural and man-made, that threatened humanity now and into the future. I invited readers to look at the list and tell me how all these problems might be connected. I was pretty sure there had to be common threads that ran through them.
With time I sorted them out and found three basic problems - climate change, overpopulation and massively excessive consumption of the planet's resources, renewable and non-renewable. These were powerfully destabilizing our global civilization.
Carrying that through a step further I realized that we were locked into modes of organization - political, industrial, economic, military and social that had, beginning around the early 70s,lost their utility as man first grew well past the finite boundaries of Earth's ecology.
We had no modes of organization developed to meet the demands of the post 70s world. Instead we embraced the neoliberal order and that locked us to a form of political economy that pursued perpetual exponential growth. The principle of "because we can" eclipsed any consideration of whether we should.
It's increasingly obvious that we have to shrink mankind's bootprint that currently rests on the planet's throat. Earth's sustainable carrying capacity is about 3-billion people in the early 70s levels of longevity and per capita consumption.
Our modes of organization will not allow us to return to sustainable numbers and behaviour and so we await nature's prescription and that will not be as agreeable as solutions we might have fashioned for ourselves.
.. Danneau is on track.. but I find it unrealistic currently or near future.
I'n sure you're aware I want to see an immediate end to 'Party Whips' who main tast seems to be ensuring elected MP's do not adhere to or even consult their riding electorate in regard to their dreams, needs or wishes.
Then I want to see no further candidates dictated for us to choose among.. from current political parties. Potential candidates can declare what they may. Suggest their goals or beliefs, even general allegiances with like minded ridings and candidates. Currently We get either the Toronto Canadians or the Montreal Maple Leafs.. or does it even matter anymore, the NDP led by a great retail Party membership salesman 'leader. Combined, they simply quash any real Green or other movement with environmental concerns
Certainly the ideas are rough, even crude.. but our parliament is archaic, stilted, monarchist, colonial, stale, our electoral system vulnerable to exploitation & fraud via ludicrous voter databases, Harper et al certainly proved that, dark money and algorithims talk & democracy walks, polls pimped out daily via MainMedia subdue or deter voting even a full year in advance. So no more popularity polls within 6 months of elections.. or more. In combination with lazy or captured MainMedia and donor money its ripe territory for partisan corruption & fuckery.
Power has to be returned to ridings and/or embedded within candidates and their nomination. MP's should only serve 4 yesrs maximum, must re actual residents of their ridings minimum 2 previous years and have bonafide occupations, no more parachuted 'star' party candidates or phony residents a la Jason Kenney or career politicians. Candidates no longer can migrate to directorships or patronage appointments or lobbying.. verboten. What of a Prime Minister or Opposition Leader.. ? Maybe we'll see thkse positions as vestigial and useless. Elected MP's will have to forge effective support within Parliament and there will be no PMO or Privy Council
Unfortunately, Sal, we're out of time for small measures. We're almost out of time for big measures, the subject of my latest post. We have a choice. We can choose life or we can choose death. It's really that stark. If we choose death, and that looks like the odds-on favourite, all the changes you want will be insignificant.
When Jim Fulton (former MP NDP) was nearing the end of his service he said that the biggest threat to democracy was going to come from corporate lobbying. He said that during his time as an MP that the numbers of lobbyists had exploded. It got to the point that he had no idea who was writing reports that crossed his desk.
When we get around to throwing out the politicians we need to include the lobbyists.
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