Friday, September 18, 2015

It's not politics, it's sanity i strive for

Sometimes people say to me "Oh you are into politics"... the truth is i am into irony, as well as being fascinated by how fucking stupid human populations can be.   I should come clean here... i believe as humans living on this closed system that is Earth... well, we missed it.  I realize this is a depressing thought for some... like my wife for example who likes to think of herself as an "eternal optimist", and yes she is, and that's great... but i see it differently.  I'm just a fact kind of guy, not a positive or negative thing, it just is what it is.  So i believe the tipping point has been reached (a while back) and we are doomed... for some reason i am still able to get up and have good days and look forward to more good days.  It's a weird skill, and one i am thankful for... i even have kids... i hope for them, but you know we still have that massive patch of plastic garbage in the middle of the fucking Pacific Ocean and there is very little political will to ban plastic, or the climate is changing and our leaders are arguing over whether that is true or not, and that we can't possible hurt the economy by addressing that.

The way i see it;  the economy is bullshit, and the environment is the economy... i laugh as i realize this statement might make sure i never get elected should i ever make the mistake of running for public office.  Now if you can't grow an apple because you have no fucking water because you used all the water to extract petroleum products, or you dammed all of the rivers, or you cut down all of the forests disturbing the hydrologic cycle... well then you can't sell an apple.  If you can't make food because you killed all of the pollinators with insane management policies, then you can't sell food.  So you can't make money AND you can't feed yourself.

I believe it was a Cree Indian Prophecy

Only after the last tree has been cut down, Only after the last river has been poisoned, Only after the last fish has been caught, Only then will you find that money cannot be eaten.


That sums it up, but perhaps those with enough money and power will be able to survive longer, so our economic model might work still.  Clearly there might be a chance for the rural farming hermit provided he could avoid the state safety officer's visits to relieve him of his produce.

So the irony of course is these insipid political debates we have to suffer through, and these long vapid campaigns that focus on this "economy" where candidates  pledge "tax breaks" to stimulate growth and such.  Now quick question... have you ever tried to claim a "tax break"?  The forms make no fucking sense and then you have to hire an accountant and thus loose the money you made in the tax break.  Obviously the Government tax agencies can help... you just have to call them, wait on hold for a fucking hour and then get some suspect advise that has been proven to be wrong more than 50% of the time.  What's the problem here?

Now in Canada right now there is a thing called the Leap Manifesto which pretty much seems like the thing to do, however there is politics.  It was probably 8 years ago that Liberal leader Stephan Dion ran on a platform of altering Canada's economy to one with a Green future, and by investing in green jobs (8 years ago), Canada might be at the lead in the future when the green revolution hits... like right about now.  Now he was beaten like a mule at the polls as the Conservatives ran adds calling it the "green shaft" that would hurt Canada's economy, and was portrayed in attack ads as a weak leader.  Even my own parents, who in reality would support such an idea, had they been in their right minds, were swayed by the commercials and avoided supporting this "weak leader".   And here we are now. Will the Leap Manifesto help the most insane political party by adding to the fear of change with respect to the economy dialogue?  Hey we can't change something that is clearly not working, and perhaps if we reiterate how something that is not working is actually working enough times people might actually believe it.  Obviously it helps if you can limit real information that is gathered on how a society is doing and replace it with your own ideas no matter how baseless they may be.

Now this is the intrigue of politics fore me, how one can push off nonsense for fact and fact for nonsense to suit ones political needs.  Remember political parties are machines to be elected... it has nothing to do with good governance, it's about gaining power.  Obviously some are better than others, like the lesser of evils perhaps and the only victory is seeing some fucker go down, and on to some high corporate appointment.

My personal political affiliation was the Work less Party, but they fizzled out... apparently nobody is interested in a zero growth economy and more free time to spend with family and living life.  We prefer a negative growth economy where people work their life away, as long as it is called in the ads and the debates as a growth economy.

So for the comedy?  I mean it's not really funny, irony is a bitter pill best served cold... the talking points have grown stale and the result is old,  but people cling to the life they know... "How do i do better or stay the same for me?" Maybe i should vote for X because i might come out a few hundred dollars ahead... that's how we think.  Which of course is irrelevant if your government tanks the countries currency by 25% by making horrible decisions that nobody could have ever have predicted... except those that predicted it and were written off a lunatics.

The problem is that the lunatic never gets their day in the spotlight.... the person who said "this is an insane idea" never gets redeemed.   Even as somebody who believes we are doomed, there would be a certain satisfaction if we could at least consider addressing the problems we face... then perhaps i might change my mind and believe in the impossible... that we could collectively change the course of our destiny.  But of course reforesting the planet isn't even on the agenda when we need to deal with important things like Wars, clamping down on immigration, trade agreements, surveillance,  chemical pesticide development... you know smart stuff.

If you want to really ramp up the insanity check out the American Republican debates... #unfuckingbelievable





















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