Tag Archives: democracy

Vote or Hush

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I wanted to title this, “Vote or Shut Up!” But since that seemed a bit crass, I thought I’d let my inner Bajan shine through with, “Hush your mouth,” but that would not translate as well as it does in my head… and is still not accurate in enunciation, so ‘Vote or Hush’ will have to do.

No matter how clear, crass, or complex I might say it, the message is simple:

If you don’t vote, you should lose the right to comment later.

You chose note to complete your civic duty. You didn’t participate in your democratic right. You decided not to be part of the decision of who represents you in a free and open society.

“But my one vote doesn’t matter.”

Wrong!

Over 10 million eligible voters did not vote in the last Canadian federal election… more than 1/3 of the eligible voters chose not to do their duty and cast a vote. Do you realize how influential it would be for ALL of those people to vote in the next election?

And so, if you are one of those people, I say, “Vote or hush-ya-mout”. You could have ‘had your say’ and chose not to… that negates your right to have a say later.

Vote or zip it.

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Ps. My bias this election: Unapologetically Political – It’s time to Smart Vote

Even the greatest waterfall

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Even the greatest waterfall begins with a single drop. I can see the droplets connecting, I can see the water beginning to build momentum. It may just be a few streams now, but they are all moving in the same direction. They are collecting into a powerful river, a powerful force. They are heading to a precipice, and they will lead to a great fall.

Go to any social media site and search the hashtag #protest. Or search 50501. Small protests of 30-300 in tiny towns, and larger rallies in the thousands and even tens of thousands in large metropolitan cities.

This isn’t a trickle anymore. This isn’t a small isolated stream of fed up people. This is a strong current going through a nation. People using their right to peaceful assembly to say they’ve had enough.

Let’s hope the peacefulness remains while the water keeps flowing, building in volume and momentum. I’m filled with optimism and hope, while simultaneously concerned about turbulence and dangerous undercurrents. Waterfalls can be beautiful, but they can also be forceful and dangerous. In a perfect world, this will be one of the most epic waterfalls, both powerful and beautiful.

In a perfect world…

Unapologetically Political – It’s time to Smart Vote

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I haven’t voted yet but my oldest daughter sent us a photo of her walk to her nearest polling station today. My youngest daughter lives at home and will either vote early or vote with my wife and I when we go. They have been going to the polls since they were in strollers. They checked boxes for us before they were old enough to vote themselves. And both of them have voted in every election since coming of age.

I don’t know who they have and will vote for, but I know who they won’t vote for. They did not, will not, vote for the Progressive Conservatives. Not because their parents told them not to, but because they agree with us that the principles of the party do not align with the free and open democracy we want to live in.

I am unapologetic for my influence on this.

The global conservative wave, literally at our doorstep, is not creating a political environment I’m comfortable with. Pierre Poilievre does not share social or political values that I have. I believe he will undermine Canada’s multicultural and socially progressive values and he will weaken our country.

I cannot stay silent. Decades of non-partisan promoting of voting as a civic duty are over. I’m not just saying ‘Go Vote’, I’m asking anyone who reads this to Smart Vote. Go to the polls, find your riding, and choose the party most likely to beat the Conservative Party in your riding.

The only party likely to beat the Conservatives in this election is the Liberal Party. I would love to see them win a majority because this is not the time for a weak minority government. However, if you are in a riding where the NDP is more likely than the Liberal candidate to beat the Conservative candidate, then vote NDP. Same for a Green Party candidate. Smart Voting.

I see some of the non-democratic decisions being made south of our border and they scare me. Pierre Poilievre is a populist, slogan peddling, empty-promises spouting lifetime politician who has done almost nothing to better Canada. He rode the right wing wave to the south and only started backpedaling when he realized that this was going to potentially cost him the election. Unprincipled, shallow, and weak. Not what our country needs right now.

I’m not planning on sitting silent and then wondering why our country voted the way they did. I can’t. I won’t.

Don’t just vote this election, Smart Vote.

Smart Voting

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For most of my adult life I have been someone who has pushed the idea that it is our civic duty to vote and have tried to stay non-partisan in that messaging. I’ve voted for three different parties in elections in the last 20 years and so I am not a cardholding member of any party, and can be influenced by policies and principles, be those the principles of the party or the candidate.

The reality that we are in right now in Canada has me choosing to vote ABC, ‘Anyone But Conservative’. But the key here is that I’m choosing the party in my riding that is most likely to beat the Conservatives.

My reasoning for this Smart Voting strategy is simple, the Conservative patry sits on one side of the political spectrum and the other two (or three if you count Green) parties all sit on the other side of the spectrum… competing for the non-conservative vote. The reality is that in the past this split has allowed the Conservatives to get into power.

With the turmoil and instability of US politics, and the wave of conservatism globally, I don’t see a Canadian conservative government under its leader as remotely good in any way for Canada. Polling suggests a Liberal win this year, which under the current leader, Carney, would be great…. As long as it is a majority government that can actually get things done. So this year I would want to vote Liberal (something I haven’t done in a while).

However, I’m going see where the polling is in my riding and vote ABC, because as important as a majority government may be at this time, preventing a Conservative government is more important to me.

It feels weird to be so open about my politics. I truly prefer to be a proponent of civic duty, encouraging people to take advantage of living within a free and open democracy, in a non-partisan way. However, I can’t stay silent when I think that one of our political parties will take us down a path that is undermining the very democratic freedoms and rights I believe in.

So it’s Smart Voting for me. I’ll vote to make sure that the Conservatives don’t get in.

As a side note, I’ve had some interesting conversations with a conservative voter. I don’t believe anything I’ve shared with him is going to change his mind. I’m disappointed, but also respectful of his opinion. Our conversations are civil and respectful, though a little animated. I wish more public political conversations could happen like this. Discourse is healthy, and necessary for a democracy to not just survive, but thrive.

Morality and Accountability

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I saw this question and response on BlueSky Social and it got me thinking:

Why are ethics questions always like:

“is it ethical to steal bread to feed your starving family?”

And not:

“is it ethical to hoard bread when families are starving?”

Existential Comics @existentialcoms

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Because the first question shifts the blame to the desperate, making their morality the focus, while the second question demands accountability from the powerful. It’s easier to question survival than to challenge greed.

Debayor @debayoorr.bsky.social

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That last sentence really struck a chord in me, “It’s easier to question survival than to challenge greed.”

We separate morality from accountability in ways that don’t really make sense. To me it’s the difference between a socialist and a capitalist democracy. A socialist democracy infuses accountability with morality, while a capitalist democracy separates the two.

Another way to look at this is with a quote from the comic book Spider-Man: “With great power comes great responsibility.” A socialist democracy takes the quote literally. A capitalist democracy redirects the focus: “Holding great power becomes my responsibility.”

Accountability to others versus accountability to power and self. Morality takes a back seat to greater control, and greater success. And that is who we idolize… the rich and famous. The ones with power and influence. Morality doesn’t come into play. Accountability doesn’t come into play.

If you came from another planet and witnessed the accumulation of wealth that happens at the expense of so many who lack wealth, what would you think of the morality of humans? Who would you admire more, the mother or father stealing a loaf of bread to feed their family, or the limo-driven CEO’s who earn 1,000% or more income than the thousands of employees under them?

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In Rome’s Shadow

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I asked Grok3, an AI LLM, what the similarities are between the fall of Rome and what we are seeing happen in the US. This was the response:

Here are six bullet points that draw direct comparisons between the fall of the Roman Empire and the potential fall of the U.S.

1. Leadership Betrayal and Enemy Deals

  • Rome: A general shaking hands with eastern thugs (like Parthia or Scythians) betrayed allies for personal gain, weakening Rome’s unity and trust.
  • U.S.: Trump siding with Russia—berating Zelenskyy on February 28, 2025, and pushing for a peace deal—sells out Ukraine, a key ally, mirroring Rome’s disloyalty and boosting a rival power.

2. Allies Breaking Away

  • Rome: The west (like Gaul) broke free from Rome’s control, rejecting its rule as it weakened.
  • U.S.: The EU steps up to support Ukraine and isolate the U.S. politically and economically after Trump’s actions, acting like provinces ditching a faltering empire.

3. Economic Collapse from Trade Mistakes

  • Rome: Markets crashed and trade stopped as Rome’s taxes and neglect dried up its wealth, leaving farms barren.
  • U.S.: Trump’s tariffs choke trade—hurting markets and raising costs—mirroring Rome’s economic self-sabotage, pushing the U.S. toward isolation and decline.

4. Internal Division and Chaos

  • Rome: Leaders fought each other, splitting the city into thieves versus thieves, paralyzing Rome’s ability to act.
  • U.S.: Political infighting—Congress and Trump’s administration clashing over Russia, Ukraine, and tariffs—echoes Rome’s bickering, stalling any unified response to the crisis.

5. Rivals Gaining Ground

  • Rome: The east (Parthia) grinned as Rome faltered, ready to exploit its shrinking power and borders.
  • U.S.: Russia laughs at America’s diplomatic mess and weakened stance, gaining leverage as the U.S. loses global clout, just like Rome’s enemies circled its decay.

6. Loss of Belief and Influence

  • Rome: Temples rotted and people stopped believing in Rome’s greatness, letting its moral core crumble.
  • U.S.: America’s reputation tanks after the Zelenskyy fiasco, with allies doubting its leadership and soft power fading, akin to Rome’s lost glory.

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I find the choice of words fascinating: (emphasis mine)

“mirroring Rome’s economic self-sabotage, pushing the U.S. toward isolation and decline”

“America’s reputation tanks after the Zelenskyy fiasco”

I know there are some things that are not comparable. I know that the US still holds economic, political, and military power that the Roman Empire probably lacked when it fell. And I actually want to see the US survive and even thrive, because I think that democracy and world peace are likely both casualties of a fallen US ‘empire’… But the US needs leadership that understands the geopolitical threats it is facing. And that is severely lacking right now.

When the President of the United States calls the Prime Minister of Canada a Governor of the 51st state; When he blames the victims of an invasion for the war they are in; When he literally shares a narcissistic video of a war torn region, renaming the area with his name, and says that the people of Palestine won’t mind being relocated… it doesn’t show diplomacy, it shows ignorance. It would be hyperbole if it wasn’t his own words and deeds.

But the biggest threat to the US lies within. With a growing number of people who are financially worse off than they were even a few months ago; the undermining of government positions that ensure the government runs smoothly; and the dismantling of healthcare and education… with cuts that will have lasting and costly implications… the potential for social unrest is alarming.

The protests will start. The unrest will be violent. The response will escalate the violence.

The worse part of this will be the lack of civility. Peaceful protest is part of democracy. Violent unrest and insurrection are weapons of tyranny. We aren’t going to see democracy and western principles prevail through force and violence. Instead we will just see a once vibrant nation that promised its people a dream and left it in the shadows of ruin.

The hypocrisy of democracy

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Democracy is supposed to empower people by a representative government that acts on behalf of and for the people. The hypocrisy of current democracy is that you are told that every vote matters and that you are the one who decides who is in power. The problem with that is that the platforms candidates run on are seldom what they enact. So you aren’t getting true representation of your wishes… and yet that’s what you voted for.

I’ve voted in every election since I became old enough to. I will continue to vote, to perform my civic duty, for the rest of my life. A democracy doesn’t work without a participatory public, and I would rather live in a democracy than any other system of government, and so I engage in the democratic process as expected.

But I’m tired of the hypocrisy. I want to see a party that can actually get things they platform on done. I want to see a system that is rigged for success rather than built on conflict, grandstanding, and hidden agendas. I want to see a party, once elected, get the support of other parties to accomplish their promised goals. Yes, other parties need to hold the current government accountable, but that is the ‘check and balance’ of an elected democracy. Fighting every move, every bill, and every promise the winning party made, simply to make the current government look bad during the next election cycle, actually undermines the strength of a democracy. The system is rigged to fail.

Give a party too much power and it is likely to reduce democratic freedoms, but don’t give it enough power and it becomes completely ineffective. This is a power dance we are seeing across the globe. What I fear is that democracy is not working like it should, and less free alternatives are rising in both power and appeal. With this we are also seeing less freedom.

Ultimately, democracies are now about voting for the extremes, and the extremes do not represent the vast majority of the people. But the majority don’t have a choice but to vote in a polarized way. So we aren’t voting for representation nearly as much as we are voting against values on the extreme side that is least like us. We aren’t voting for who we want to represent us, we are voting to avoid the election of someone we feel would represent us least.

And no matter who wins, we really aren’t represented by these representative governments. How do we change this? I don’t know. I’ll keep voting and doing my part, I just wish elected officials figured out a way to do the same and protect the very democracy that elected them.

Profits and wages

It’s easy to see that capitalism is broken. Oil & gas, food, delivery, and online shopping companies have had record high profits shared with their shareholders in the past few years, while the workers in the same companies fight for a living wage. And the gaps get bigger. One thing not always recognized is that even when a ‘decent’ wage increase happens, it often benefits the wealthier employees more.

Here is a simple example of a company giving everyone a 7% wage increase. This is what it translates to:

  • A $25,000 a year employee gets an additional $1,750 before taxes.
  • A $40,000 a year employee gets an additional $2,800 before taxes.
  • A $75,000 a year employee gets an additional $5,250 before taxes.
  • A $150,000 a year employee gets an additional $10,500 before taxes.

The end result is that the gap gets bigger.

I believe that there is room in the world for social democracy. That we can lift the wages at the bottom without undermining a company. The only thing stopping this is the expectations of shareholders. Companies need to be beholden to their employees and customers first, and then shareholders.

I don’t see a workable way forward to fix the broken shareholder model, but it is undermining the balance between work and life in a free and democratic society. Surely the well-being of a company’s employees has to matter more than lining shareholder pockets… because it seems to be more and more of an either/or scenario, and the shareholders seem to be winning.

Free speech in a free society

There are a few people I really hate to listen to. They annoy me with their persuasive rhetoric and popular-sounding rifts and quotes that speak to a target audience and to no one else. That said, I don’t think I have a right to silence them. I can be outspoken about what they are saying that I think is wrong. I could choose to block them on social media platforms, and I can even call them nasty names, if that’s a game I want to play, (I don’t), but I don’t get to shut them up.

On the other hand, I think hate speech has no place in a good and decent society. In other words, we should only be intolerant of intolerance:

The paradox of tolerance states that if a society is tolerant without limit, its ability to be tolerant is eventually ceased or destroyed by the intolerant. Karl Popper described it as the seemingly self-contradictory idea that in order to maintain a tolerant society, the society must retain the right to be intolerant of intolerance.

And so when I see news like this, it upsets me. It doesn’t matter what your politics are, whether you are on the left or right, or whether or not you think our Prime Minister is doing a good job or not… He should not have to shorten an event because of angry protesters.

I will defend anyone’s right to protest. Not screaming protesters preventing a speech they don’t want to hear, not things being thrown at speakers, and not disrupting a planned event and making the event impossible to run. Unless the person speaking is spouting hate, we need tolerance. The only thing that should be disrupted is hate speech and intolerance. That’s it. That’s all.

We undermine our own freedoms when we prevent people with different views from speaking. We don’t have to give them a platform ourselves. We do have to recognize their rights and freedoms to think differently than us. Don’t like the the Prime Minister? Then be active in the next election. Do research and speak from a knowledgeable place about his policies you dislike and promote another candidate. Share your opinion, dedicate your time, and change things in the next (free) election. But don’t heckle, scream, and disrupt that person’s planned event. Want to hold up signs and protest, go ahead. Want to share your opposing opinion on social media? Go ahead. But don’t be a jerk and prevent a planned event from happening… save that for groups with names like Hitler Loving Nazis. If that’s a hate group giving a talk, the paradox of tolerance comes into play, and by all means disrupt and prevent that hate speech from happening. Anything less than that, then preserving free speech is far more important than anything you have to say in a disruptive protest.

1984 in 2024

First they came…

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me— and there was no one left to speak for me.

~ German Lutheran pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984)

— — — — — — — —

I watched a short video about a school board voting down an attempt to ban books. I thought it was an American video about the the ultra-conservative movement in Florida. I was wrong. This was in Manitoba, and while the book ban was denied, I was struck by the realization that this was something being voted on in Canada.

There is hate in this world. It is driven by fear. It’s driven by the idea that someone getting more rights, more choice, and more opportunity somehow removes those things from someone else… from someone privileged.

I salute the community of Brandon Manitoba for standing up against such prejudice and hate. I salute everyone who speak out against hate, tyranny, prejudice, and ignorance.

Over the past few months I’ve rolled my eyes and wondered how the ‘land of the brave and home of the free’ down below our southern border could become so much more fearful and so much less free? Banning books, stripping away women’s rights, and creating policies based on ignorance and hate… This isn’t conservatism, it’s fascism. It’s oppressive and un-democratic.

In Florida you won’t find George Orwell’s 1984 in school libraries any more. They’ve entered an era where a dystopian novel about government control is being banned by the government; an era where history is being whitewashed; an era where hospitals can deny needed services that don’t meet the ruling party’s oppressive guidelines. And these ideas are spreading.

The people of Brandon Manitoba got to say ‘No’! No one in Florida was given the same choice. I could name a few countries in the world where I’d expect to see this, none of them on this continent until now. I fear that the US election in 2024 is not about political parties, it’s about democratic ideology… it’s a choice between living in an open and free society or a state controlled and restricted society.

The interesting thing in both Canada and in the United States is that these battles are not just being fought in national elections, they are being fought municipally in local elections including school board elections. We saw it here in my city when, last year, I broke my non-partisan ‘it’s your duty to vote’ message to speak out against a (fringe, close minded) group of school trustee candidates. (They all lost their bid.)

We can’t wait until deeply un-democratic but politically active people take away our books, and our rights and freedoms, before we act. We need elected officials like the ones in Brandon Manitoba to be in the positions they were in. And if we can’t step up, we need to vote for the ones who do.

In Canada voter turnout has decreased since 2015. It dropped from 48.8% in 2019 to 44.5% in 2021. The voter turnout rates were much higher in the close race of 2020 in the US, but 1/3 of the eligible population still didn’t vote. In both countries local municipal elections have even less people turn up to vote. If ever there was a time to show up and vote, if ever there was a time to step up and take on an elected position, this is it.

The beauty of a democracy is that everyone has a voice… the scary thing about a democracy is that everyone has a voice.

I may not want a Orwellian 1984 government, but I do want my future grandchildren to be able to read that book in their public school library. I want my grandchildren to learn about multiple historical perspectives. And I want my grandchildren to live in an open, inclusive, and accepting society, not one that limits their rights and freedoms.

We need to speak for them, and for everyone who is having their liberties stripped away, before our chance to speak up, even to vote, is lost.