“I am on a personal quest to rid my life of mediocrity and indifference. I believe that with my efforts, influence, and passion I can contribute to a fundamental shift in humanity’s core values so that we all take responsibility for the well being of our fellow man. I hope to initiate several projects that address the three issues that weigh heavily upon my soul : Environmental Self Defence, Peace Education, and Mental Health Awareness.”
This was the affirmation I declared when I first started journaling last November. Since then, my thoughts, and thus my journaling efforts, have focused on this ideal. I’m not a very politically active person nor do I even like talking politics. However it is impossible to eradicate mediocrity in one’s own life when so much of our quality of life is determined by our political leaders and their personal values and policies. I am not affiliated with any political party nor do I endorse any particular candidate. However the way I see it, my political leaders are elected officials who I am paying to do a job. If they are not doing their jobs to my satisfaction, then I am going to speak up and pull no punches. I might even resort to insults and sarcasm. Such is my wrath.
Our Alberta Premier has given himself a 34% pay increase. I would love to vent about the fact that he did this immediately following his election after his job was guaranteed for at least another four years. I would love to vent even more about his claim that he has the support of the Alberta public on this issue. If he has so much public support why did he not give himself this raise during the election rather than waiting until after he won his minimum four year mandate? I had to smile though when he justified the raise. He says it is the only way to attract higher quality candidates to run for office. Doesn’t that imply that he isn’t the best candidate since he went for the job at a lower rate? Kind of also implies that he didn’t deserve the raise. Ed Stelmach - the Peter Principle in action.
But I’m not going to vent about that - I know, I already did but work with me here. What I am going to vent about is the fact that something like this can happen without a huge public outcry. We seem to like to voice our outrage to one another but at the end of the day we all just roll over, accept it, and move on. What will be even more outrageous is come next election our political leaders will roll out huge spending increases and tax cuts and we will all be bamboozled to vote for them again. Such is the way of Canadian politics. We vote for candidates who cater to our individual short term wants at the expense of our long term needs. We leave those for future generations to worry about. We ignore what we are seeing happening in our government and vote for candidates based on their political affiliations as opposed to their personal merits. We allow our political leaders to bully our representatives to set public policy and vote according to the party’s guidelines as opposed to the will of their constituents. Somehow we have to get back control of our government so that it represents the will of the people and not the self serving will of the party. We have to start demanding accountability in our politicians and for gosh sakes, stop accepting mediocrity. We have to recognize the difference between promises used to get a politician through the next election and promises to solve a problem.
I would like to challenge my students who read this blog to take action. Action to initiate the change you want to see. If you disagree with what I have written here, email me at jeff@silentriverkungfu.com. If you agree with this then let Ed Stelmach know at premier@gov.ab.ca. It does not matter what you do as long as you do something.
There it is: short, sweet, and totally uninspiring. Just like my Premier. Except for the sweet part.
"Perhaps nothing in our society is more needed for those in positions of authority than accountability. Too often those with authority are able (and willing) to surround themselves with people who support their decisions without question"
- Uknown Author
1 comment:
I was reading your blog and thinking about how to change government. Despite my libertarian political leanings, I voted liberal last election in an attempt to slow the Tory landslide and help to loosen their stranglehold over the Legislature. I might as well have spoiled my ballot.
When voting becomes ineffective in a democratic system, what do you do? (Assuming you classify rep-by-pop as democracy - I don't.)
In the corporate world, as you suggested, you can vote with your dollar. You give money to the companies and individuals you want to support. This is true democracy.
Why can't we do this when it comes to government? I think we can. Like the leaders in Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged" we can go on strike. As you have suggested, we can stop buying things that aren't necessities (less sales tax). If you don't buy as much, you don't have to make as much money. If you don't need as much money, then you can work less and make less money (less income tax). If you work fewer days a week, you don't need to drive as much, so you use less gas (less gas tax and oil royalty revenue).
With all this extra time you have (since you're working less), you can learn to be more self-sufficient (i.e. fixing your own motorcycle, or changing your own oil, or building your own house, or growing your own food in the backyard). Every time you do something yourself instead of paying someone else to do it, it is a nail in the government's coffin - because you pay less taxes. Taxes are their lifeblood.
At this point, it seems like the best thing we can do is to stop playing their game. Don't make money. Don't buy things. Do it yourself. As much as possible, anyways. And in the meantime, enjoy your life.
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