Articles in category “Politics”
Let’s Talk About Bell
The good people at Bell, through their Let’s Talk campaign, are once again donating money to mental health initiatives. Isn’t that nice of them? Well, no, it’s not, on several levels. First and foremost, if they really care about mental health then surely they can just donate the money anyway, rather than only do so if people share their Facebook posts.
Fixing Pharmaceuticals
A while back I read a story about how Canada is facing recurring drug shortages. More recently I read about how difficult it is to get the pharmaceutical companies interested in developing new antibiotics. It is clear to me that the private sector is now longer performing adequately in providing medications. It seems to me that radical ideas are becoming pragmatic.
On Europe, the Left, and the Future
For those of you who weren’t aware, there are currently elections going on for the European Parliament. What is interesting about this election, in particular, is that the more radical parties are expected to do well. This includes the socialist parties to the left of social democracy. In this post, in addition to some general comments on the European Parliament, I discuss the policies of these parties and my thoughts on their future.
On Socialists and Scotsmen
Us socialists are often accused of preaching a failed ideology; one which has been shown to inevitably result in totalitarianism and impoverishment. I tend to respond by saying that I don’t see how socialism can have failed when the world has yet to see a socialist society. The inevitable objection that is given, not only by the right but also by the centre-left, is that this is an example of the “No True Scotsman Fallacy.” However, I feel that they are misunderstanding my point.
Denouncing the Dumb Diatribe on the Discontinuation of Door-to-Door Delivery
As you may know, Canada Post recently announced that they will be making some changes. Two in particular are of note: a price increase on stamps and the phasing out of door-to-door delivery in urban areas. Predictably, the left has had a conniption over all of this. In particular, they have denounced the elimination of door-to-door delivery. Given my politics, you may be expecting a similar reaction here. But there you would be wrong.
Why Social Democracy Was Great and Why It Isn’t the Answer
Yesterday I happened to read two very interesting articles, which at first glance would appear to be entirely unrelated. One was in New Scientist magazine and explained that, although GDP has risen fairly steadily in the west for the past several decades, the Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI), which attempts to adjust GDP for social and environmental health, has slowly been declining since 1978. The other article was an opinion piece in The Guardian by Leo Panitch and Sam Gindin. Here they explained why that without a threat of something more radical (ie: all-out socialism), the ruling classes see no need to engage in progressive economic policies.
Was There No Alternative?
I made the mistake today of making a distinctly anti-Thatcher comment. To this I received a (fairly typical) response that Thatcher saved Britain for anarchy and bankruptcy and that while her policies were unpleasant at the time, they were necessary. There are even plenty of people on the centre-left who say things like this. It irritates me to no end, but I figured that it was best to avoid getting dragged into a political debate in public. Of course, this being me, it continued to bother me through the day, so I’ve written some of my thoughts on the matter here.
