I think Canadians need to ask themselves, well before the next election, if our democratic system is working anymore. I believe that the powers concentrated now in the Prime Ministers Office have made a wasteland of authentic democracy. We now have a system of Parliament that amounts to little more than privileged people yelling sarcasm at each other instead of problem-solving. We now have a system where influence peddling and corporate interests sway the voting process within our sacred chamber of dialogue. A few weeks ago, we had tragic violence at the heart of this institution. Im left wondering more if this isnt perhaps a symbolic event that speaks to the violence generated from within Parliament than any genuine external threat to Canada. It seems to me that were materializing the conditions for anguish and despair in the world and then wrapping our collective denial in the flag of this country. Im deeply saddened, for example, by the death of a young man standing on guard in front of a symbol of Canadas war history but is it not more troubling to re-frame his murder as an act of heroism in the service of yet more war? I think another way to remember this tragedy that dignifies the memory of this young person is to re-investigate our very system of governance as it participates in the global reality. Weve had, as Ive stated earlier this week, five thousand years of war on this planet. At no time has more war produced more peace. It simply hasnt. Now were in another country dropped laser guided bombs and, if history teaches us anything, this will lead us into more violence. Canada has had moments when we were seen as peace keepers, defensively coming to the assistance of those who ask for our assistance. To be honest, I am not complete certain how well that worked either. But this war to create peace idea... its a lie. Surely we can re-design our democratic process to serve interests that benefit Canadians while not encouraging the conditions for more war. So the question in my mind is When will we begin? #peace
Posted on: Tue, 04 Nov 2014 21:57:23 +0000
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