Heather Cox Richardson, on youtube, interviewed Tom Snyder this week. He said for 30 yrs government has been viewed as restricting freedom, ie less government, moore fredom. When in fact it is government that creates freedom ie all the things encompassed within the welfare state, rule of law, human rights. In his book Freedom he says that is the underlying call needed for unifying the country. Pretty applicable to our politics too.
I watched that interview. Right on point. This is the challenge: finding the balance; to identify where our government needs to leave us alone, and where our gov't needs to support us.
We need to slap their hands off the levers of wealth as soon as we see our elected representatives serving their own interests, or their party interests.
Protest the Ford government; it's a perfect example of "finger in the pie" politics which ignores the real problems of the mass majority in favour of a few.
The biggest obstacle to supporting each other in Canada are the provinces. Specifically provinces "run" by conservatives who only want to cut any and all programs.
You can start dismantling this obstacle by dismantling the structures of separation you have created on your end. One of them is indicated by the scare quotes.
Conservatives aren’t our enemies, we have so much more in common with them than we think. When we strip away all the affiliations and bluster, we all want what David outlines here. Stability, a future for our children, an affordable life.
If we are going to create that future, we need to build bridges to those communities. Connect with Conservatives in your life, find places of agreement, together you can detach from the structures of power that would make us enemies, and attach to each other.
We need both people who can look to the future as well as those who can carry what we value from our past. We go together or not at all.
One of our biggest problems right now is that the government is limiting the definition of "nation building" to things that increase profits for petroleum and mining companies and excluding things that build social capital and healthy communities. The second problem is that too many politicians and people are using immigrants and refugees as scapegoats to cover over their own problem-causing. Too many of us are allowing ourselves to be diverted from things that will actually make Canada better and protect us from Trumpism.
"The best way to behave is to do the right thing for the right reason; the second best way is to do the right thing for the wrong reason. Right now, we ought to be satisfied with either. And the right thing is to go all-in on a renewal of the Canadian welfare state." OK. Much higher taxes for the rich. Enhance sovereignty keeping America at bay.
We need to be relentless about building the right kind of strength in this country. The kind of strength that emerges from a tightly woven fabric of interdependency.
Weapons and soldiers will not protect us from what is coming, tightly bound communities with flexible ways to allocate resources will.
Good article David, 2 lines from your post standout for me. “This week, we hit the customary NATO spending goal of 2% of gross domestic product on defence. One wonders if that is in service of maintaining the old order led by the United States or preparing for its demise”.
Let us sincerely hope that we recognize that the demise of the American-led order is at hand, and prepare ourselves to rescue as many refugees from it as we can. And strengthen ourselves to help shape a new and more benign order to follow. Excellent article, David.
I believe that if the Canadian state wants to persist in a democratic fashion, serious constitutional reform is needed (in a way that more effectively delivers the benefits of a welfare state). I don't know if any Canadian politician has the guts to push for it.
I will wave my flag for universal services- for a caring and sharing society. But sorry, I won't wave it for hockey. I like hockey but sadly hockey is what Canadians rest their their identify- pride on.
You're absolutely correct, David, in my opinion. Unfortunately, we are doing the opposite of reaffirming the welfare state while digging ever deeper into neoliberalism. Provincially and federally, supports for human beings are being cut, while private interests make off like bandits. Take the recent federal cuts to health care for refugees, for example. Why be so cruel? That is not Canadian, as I know it. We lament the drop in our status on the Happiness Index -- I think its a reflection of our fear. Fear that is rational given the state of our world and the precarious nature of the Canadian state. I hope fervently that Carney begins to commit to a Canada worth defending. It is urgent.
I checked the Standing Committee on Health evidence from February 5. Five point eight million Canadians enrolled in the dental care plan. Two point eight million already received care. Moscrop has it right. That spending builds the social trust we need more than extra defence dollars. See the transcript here: https://www.ourcommons.ca/Content/Committee/451/HESA/Evidence/EV13898217/HESAEV20-E.PDF.
Elizabeth Warren just announced a wealth tax proposal illustrated with pennies on the dollar. Very effectively done. I see democratic socialism as more powerful messaging than referring to the welfare state.
I agree but don't think we can call it a welfare state and sell that to Canadians. I don't know what to call it. I don't know how I have let myself be brainwashed but for me socialism sounds worse than capitalism but socialist sounds better than capitalist. Anyway that's just me. The trick is to show how it's possible, to give people hope. Examples of how other countries do the things we want to achieve and the manageable cost and time required. To show how things were better for many Canadians before the 1980's in interviews with real people. That this current world view is actually new and bad and can be reversed or changed to something better. We need a believable, hopeful story delivered by real people.
I watched a YouTube video about an American guy who's been living in Denmark. His list of top things about Denmark is worth considering. The idea of public trust and public good really comes through...
I always call refer to a welfare state as our common wealth. I remind people that we used to know how to hold things in common; how in village life, we carried the young, the sick and old, with us because they had so much to give. Remind them that this is how we are built, this is how we adapted over millennia to build amazing things. No one walks alone.
Heather Cox Richardson, on youtube, interviewed Tom Snyder this week. He said for 30 yrs government has been viewed as restricting freedom, ie less government, moore fredom. When in fact it is government that creates freedom ie all the things encompassed within the welfare state, rule of law, human rights. In his book Freedom he says that is the underlying call needed for unifying the country. Pretty applicable to our politics too.
I watched that interview. Right on point. This is the challenge: finding the balance; to identify where our government needs to leave us alone, and where our gov't needs to support us.
We need to slap their hands off the levers of wealth as soon as we see our elected representatives serving their own interests, or their party interests.
Protest the Ford government; it's a perfect example of "finger in the pie" politics which ignores the real problems of the mass majority in favour of a few.
Danielle Smith is his twin. Conservatives, not in my lifetime. The grifting is obvious, always.
The biggest obstacle to supporting each other in Canada are the provinces. Specifically provinces "run" by conservatives who only want to cut any and all programs.
You can start dismantling this obstacle by dismantling the structures of separation you have created on your end. One of them is indicated by the scare quotes.
Conservatives aren’t our enemies, we have so much more in common with them than we think. When we strip away all the affiliations and bluster, we all want what David outlines here. Stability, a future for our children, an affordable life.
If we are going to create that future, we need to build bridges to those communities. Connect with Conservatives in your life, find places of agreement, together you can detach from the structures of power that would make us enemies, and attach to each other.
We need both people who can look to the future as well as those who can carry what we value from our past. We go together or not at all.
One of our biggest problems right now is that the government is limiting the definition of "nation building" to things that increase profits for petroleum and mining companies and excluding things that build social capital and healthy communities. The second problem is that too many politicians and people are using immigrants and refugees as scapegoats to cover over their own problem-causing. Too many of us are allowing ourselves to be diverted from things that will actually make Canada better and protect us from Trumpism.
"The best way to behave is to do the right thing for the right reason; the second best way is to do the right thing for the wrong reason. Right now, we ought to be satisfied with either. And the right thing is to go all-in on a renewal of the Canadian welfare state." OK. Much higher taxes for the rich. Enhance sovereignty keeping America at bay.
We need to be relentless about building the right kind of strength in this country. The kind of strength that emerges from a tightly woven fabric of interdependency.
Weapons and soldiers will not protect us from what is coming, tightly bound communities with flexible ways to allocate resources will.
Good article David, 2 lines from your post standout for me. “This week, we hit the customary NATO spending goal of 2% of gross domestic product on defence. One wonders if that is in service of maintaining the old order led by the United States or preparing for its demise”.
Let us sincerely hope that we recognize that the demise of the American-led order is at hand, and prepare ourselves to rescue as many refugees from it as we can. And strengthen ourselves to help shape a new and more benign order to follow. Excellent article, David.
I believe that if the Canadian state wants to persist in a democratic fashion, serious constitutional reform is needed (in a way that more effectively delivers the benefits of a welfare state). I don't know if any Canadian politician has the guts to push for it.
I will wave my flag for universal services- for a caring and sharing society. But sorry, I won't wave it for hockey. I like hockey but sadly hockey is what Canadians rest their their identify- pride on.
Never has the NDP needed to make a left turn to get away from centrist-unbalanced-unfair sharing of the nations wealth.
You're absolutely correct, David, in my opinion. Unfortunately, we are doing the opposite of reaffirming the welfare state while digging ever deeper into neoliberalism. Provincially and federally, supports for human beings are being cut, while private interests make off like bandits. Take the recent federal cuts to health care for refugees, for example. Why be so cruel? That is not Canadian, as I know it. We lament the drop in our status on the Happiness Index -- I think its a reflection of our fear. Fear that is rational given the state of our world and the precarious nature of the Canadian state. I hope fervently that Carney begins to commit to a Canada worth defending. It is urgent.
I checked the Standing Committee on Health evidence from February 5. Five point eight million Canadians enrolled in the dental care plan. Two point eight million already received care. Moscrop has it right. That spending builds the social trust we need more than extra defence dollars. See the transcript here: https://www.ourcommons.ca/Content/Committee/451/HESA/Evidence/EV13898217/HESAEV20-E.PDF.
Elizabeth Warren just announced a wealth tax proposal illustrated with pennies on the dollar. Very effectively done. I see democratic socialism as more powerful messaging than referring to the welfare state.
Or neighbourly politics?
I agree but don't think we can call it a welfare state and sell that to Canadians. I don't know what to call it. I don't know how I have let myself be brainwashed but for me socialism sounds worse than capitalism but socialist sounds better than capitalist. Anyway that's just me. The trick is to show how it's possible, to give people hope. Examples of how other countries do the things we want to achieve and the manageable cost and time required. To show how things were better for many Canadians before the 1980's in interviews with real people. That this current world view is actually new and bad and can be reversed or changed to something better. We need a believable, hopeful story delivered by real people.
I watched a YouTube video about an American guy who's been living in Denmark. His list of top things about Denmark is worth considering. The idea of public trust and public good really comes through...
I always call refer to a welfare state as our common wealth. I remind people that we used to know how to hold things in common; how in village life, we carried the young, the sick and old, with us because they had so much to give. Remind them that this is how we are built, this is how we adapted over millennia to build amazing things. No one walks alone.