Power Gained by Increment

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Before a problem can be solved, its existence must first be noticed and properly acknowledged.  Only when exposed to the light of day can its causes, and the players involved, be discovered.  However, when a problem evolves slowly it often goes undetected, or its progression is merely tolerated as bothersome.  People have a way of accepting and accommodating each stage of minor social inconvenience, often unaware of the cumulative long-term effects.  As such, they are vulnerable to abuse by those looking to take advantage.

Unfortunately, the human propensity to ignore or adapt to small disturbances over time allows organized nefarious players to implement undesirable changes on society through “incrementalization”.   Incrementalization is Gradualism, (also called the “Hegelian Dialectical Process” of consensus-getting), the almost imperceptible cascading effects of an initial action; the resulting reaction (opposition); a general acquiescence; and then total acceptance by a population.  Repeating over time, each step compounds on the one preceding it.  The intended outcome (that otherwise would be deemed unacceptable by the populace if delivered as a full package at the outset) is achieved.

Significant change can be instituted, almost undetected in this way.  Each isolated increment of change made can be justified as something needed, and as such appears logical. Of significant note is the fact that positive change does not need to employ these types of deceptions.  It is a tool:  “incrementalization of the undesirable”.

In the aftermath of historical atrocities, onlookers are shocked at what tyrants were able to pull off by using this technique.  A tool surreptitiously deployed until full power is gained, then switching to military control.

An alert and well informed population that is politically engaged and able to think critically, combined with a properly functioning media, are paramount to ensure democracies prevail and undesirable situations are kept in check.  The importance lies in noticing the problem, acknowledging it, exposing the players, and fixing issues as soon as possible.

 

Coughlin, Stephen and Higgins, Richard, “Remembering the Mis-Remembered Left – The Left’s Strategy and Tactics to Transform America”, 2019, Unconstrained Analytics.

Separation of Political Powers

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There is a reason for the separation of powers in politics.

Local municipalities have decided that the need to act on issues, that are the responsibility of senior levels of government, is preferable to doing their own jobs. The temptation to reduce global warming overrides the need to issue building permits. The point is that any possible action they may take lies well beyond a city’s ability to make any measurable adjustment to national temperatures. This overreach inevitably results in a decrease in local economic productivity with a corresponding drop in income.

Many councillors do not make the connection between their actions and a lack of local housing; a key factor in making people homeless. Potential solutions now mean using local government funds, originally earmarked for other projects, to provide temporary accommodation. Local proponents follow the San Francisco example, “… that homelessness is caused largely by poverty and discrimination; the solution, (they say) is not to judge the poor souls that sleep rough but to spend more money on them.” (1)   This is something that the current local tax base is unable to support. The social problems that accompany the new residents eclipse the capacity of any municipal authority to resolve; principally because the treatment resources are complex and belong to other levels of government.

Support programs for the homeless, like many relationships, are easy to start but offer no clear way to get out. The longer they last, the greater the loss to local resources and the longer the period of sustained damage to community fabric. Local councils would be well advised to stick to parks and potholes and keep the pressure on senior governments to meet their obligations.

(1)  ‘San Fransicko’: How progressives ruin cities” Michael Shellenberger, Harper Collins 2021. Quote from review in The Telegraph, 5th December 2021

 

Words as Weapons

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Words, phrases, and language are social contracts.  Known meanings are mutually shared between people in order to communicate.  The problem arises when a word or phrase is “stolen” from its original definition to suddenly mean something else, unbeknownst to its current user, (sometimes to the total opposite meaning), or obliterated completely, which is what the woke crowd is currently trying to do to the words mother,  father, woman and man.

Is there a perpetually updated linguistic manual that everyone must refer to before conversing?  Of course not, that would be absurd.  Does the converted word or phrase now permanently reside in its newly decided position of meaning?  No.  Is a newly forbidden word nevermore to be spoken? Again, no.  People should not be so quick to bow, apologize, or shuffle away, adopting these newly defined etymological versions, out of a warped sense of politeness.  Because like most everything else, language and meaning do not evolve normally if imposed by force.

The natural evolution of language is a slow and steady process that evolves through time, whereas “stealing” words and phrases, (i.e., abruptly and arbitrarily changing their definitions, usually by one group acting upon another), is a type of purposeful psycho-political manipulation.  It is a very old trick used in “gaslighting”.

Mass gaslighting is not benign, and unfortunately it is prevalent today as a type of aggression, especially at a pedestrian level.   Perpetrators are actively participating in the tactic; intentionally creating confusion in the social landscape in order to satisfy their own preconceived ends.  Words have become a new-age politicized weapon.

What is the Tipping Point?

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Human beings are not livestock, to be forcibly herded, corralled, inoculated, and used.  They are free autonomous beings.

A population is in danger when its leaders “bait-and-switch”, installing themselves with grandiose powers, instituting their own personal agendas and abusing the funds of the hard-working taxpayer.  Taxpayers generally have no opposition to paying taxes and expect to pay their share for their country’s infrastructure.  But when tax dollars are syphoned off by the billions and used for a leader’s external ambitions, or extraneous pet projects, citizens are justifiably outraged.  This citizenry-affront arises because of a leader’s failure to remember that taxes are not government money; taxes are monies entrusted by taxpayers to the government to work on their behalf.

A population is also in danger when its leaders try to stifle or psychologically muzzle them.  When people are coerced into a new governmentally subscribed vocabulary, to the point of some words and phrases being prohibited by law, a population is in peril of losing one of its most basic and treasured liberties – free speech.  When mandated indoctrination replaces free expression, all forms of discourse; humour, debate, opinion, and even simple conversations are jeopardized.  This is authoritarianism at work.

The question arises, as to what level does a society sink before it completely succumbs to full-fledged authoritarianism?  How far does neo-despotism have to go before it is widely noticed and challenged by a majority?  What has history demonstrated?  What is the tipping point between a population’s begrudging-acquiescence and open societal conflict? These are just a few of the issues and questions people in the free western world are now having serious conversations about.

 

NDP Roots in Canada

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In 1933 the “Regina Manifesto” was adopted by the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) at its first national convention in Regina Saskatchewan.  One of the stipulated goals of the manifesto was to destroy capitalism and replace it with a socialist system.  The League for Social Reconstruction (LSR), founded in Montreal and Toronto in 1931-32, largely written by Underhill and Scott, strongly influenced the CCF.

The Regina Manifesto called for “a planned and socialized economy in which our natural resources and principal means of production and distribution are owned, controlled, and operated by the people” and a nationalizing of everything, including the banking system. (1)

It also vowed that “No CCF Government will rest content until it has eradicated capitalism and put into operation the full program of socialized planning which will lead to the establishment in Canada of the Co-operative Commonwealth” (2)

In 1956, because of strong anti-communist sentiments, the CCF replaced the Regina Manifesto with a more moderate sounding declaration called the “Winnipeg Declaration”, (it is ironic that it was called a manifesto in the first place).   Its full name the “1956 Winnipeg Declaration of Principles of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation” was adopted at the 1956 national convention.

The CCF ostensibly chose to soften their image, however many of the same players remained.  The “Winnipeg Declaration” remained the statement of party principal, and that of their new founded party; “The New Democratic Party” (NDP) in 1961.  This declaration remained with the NDP platform until 1983 when they replaced it with a “Statement of Principals”.

This “Statement of Principals” appears much in the same vein as the other documents, but with fuzzy edges.  However, softening and re-wording does not change its central tenets.  Leopards cannot really change their spots.

(1)  Co-operative Commonwealth Federation preamble
(2)  Co-operative Commonwealth Federation Section 14

A Path to Micro-Minority Control

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“Entryism” – a new word describing the path to micro-minority control.

Do you ever wonder why an organization or group of people suddenly burst out with an opinion totally at odds with the objectives you thought they followed?  A recent example was a comment by the principal administrator of the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association. She reacted to reports of arson at some provincial churches with the advice to “burn them all down!”

Here is how it happens; find an existing organization that has high purpose and whose membership rules allow an external organized group to infiltrate and take over its management and its credibility, and where possible control its assets.

The broad membership is left looking on as their organization disappears off on a totally foreign trajectory.  It is not only organizations whose purpose can be corrupted. Activists have done effective work with school boards where a minimal turn out of voters in Vancouver allowed a “progressive” slate to take control. Its objective is the cancellation of programs (in the name of equity), that were designed to encourage the most gifted students to meet the challenges of an increasingly complex world.

If entryism is not enough of a new word, try these offerings from the National Education Association, the American teacher’s union. It is committing itself to the critique of “empire, white supremacy, anti-Blackness, anti-Indigeneity, racism, patriarchy, cisheteropatriarchy, capitalism, ableism, anthropocentrism, and other forms of power and oppression at the intersections of our society.”

It is a sharp reminder that for as long as there has been freedom of anything, there has been someone who does not want it to happen.

Strong Leadership Required

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The current Federal government still appears to be more interested in itself and UN initiatives than in doing its job.  The difference between governing and ruling seems to be perpetually lost on them.  Citizens are forgiven for seeing this administration as an increasingly intrusive and bloated bureaucracy (aristocracy?) that taxpayers are forced on fear of penalty, to pay for.

More government, and more government interference in peoples’ lives is the problem, not the solution.    “We are not so nasty that we need to be tamed by intrusive government, nor so nice that too much government does not bring out the worst in us, both at its employees and its clients.” (1)

Compounding this overburden are the ubiquitous and heavily funded NGO’s profligate infiltrations into community organizations and civic councils.  NGOs not only lobby government, they are now effectively also lobbying the masses into conformity.  Conformity to agendas that trend prominently toward Communist ideals.

Ordinary hard-working people go along, assumedly, because they do not take the time to study the bigger picture.  The Pied-Pipers of Marxism have discovered that when their collectivist initiatives are cloaked in good deeds, they are difficult for kind-hearted people to resist.  Appealing to emotion is a well-known sales tactic, and the strategy is proving to be exceedingly effective.

To make matters worse, for decades, uninformed citizens, if they voted at all, have voted for “stuff for themselves” at the ballot box.  Tragically, politics have morphed into a popularity contest where a myriad of gifts are promised in exchange for votes.   As each new “gift” is implemented, another layer of bureaucracy seems to mysteriously appear – at the expense of the taxpayer.

This is a hot mess that will likely require exceptionally strong leadership, discipline, common sense, and a properly informed population, to set right.

(1)  Matt Ridley 1996, The Origins of Virtue 

Reciprocity

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It is not only charming to live in a small town where everyone knows everyone else, but it is also generally safer.  When humans have close-knit reciprocal relationships; when they, at an innate level depend on each other, having something to lose or gain, whether economically, socially, or psychologically, they are likely to be mutually cooperative in their daily lives.  Natural reciprocity breeds peaceful co-habitation.  Forced reciprocity does not.

Extrapolating this premise to the current political landscape in Canada, one can see that the innate human contract has broken down.  Reciprocity has, in effect, turned to force and extortion.  Where once resided reasonable middle ground now sits Left and far-Left assemblies, making stifling demands on an already stressed middle-class population, and in the process crippling the framework that underpins economics.  A group of multi-millionaires and billionaires, not wanting to miss an opportunity, or possibly creating it in the first place, deftly wield the proverbial marionette in their own misguided delusions of grandeur.  They are like “want-to-be-kings in waiting”.  For what?  For the complete breakdown of society?

Ultimately the result is a struggling middle-class that is being crushed and looted from all sides.  The majority of whom have been psychologically divided from each other, muzzled, and beaten down by political correctness and cancel culture, to a point where they are in danger of losing the very fortitude required to rise up against this phenomenon.   A debilitating phenomenon that can only be described as liberal fascism.

Canada Day

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The City of Victoria has decided not to celebrate Canada Day. Considering the recent Kamloops Residential School discovery of possible burial sites, they have cancelled their planned one-hour virtual broadcast, opting for an event on Sept. 6th honouring the wishes of the Lekwungen Nations.

Mayor Lisa Helps encouraged other communities to do the same. The effect has been electric. #Cancel Canada Day trended on Twitter. Other communities are considering cancelling celebrations, and media outlets are discussing the legitimacy of Canada Day. This induces some important questions for Canadians.

Why is this happening? A political agenda is being pursued by those who seek to revise Canadian history, cancel our customs, and alter our institutions. This is another perfect opportunity for progressive activists to deconstruct Canadian history. The expression “Never let a good crisis go to waste” applies here as various politically motivated groups try to reconstruct Canada. All Canadians mourn the lost children and condemn the excesses of the residential schools.  This is not new information.   An acknowledgement or prayer may be in order, yes, but it is not reasonable to cancel Canada Day.

Canada is a great Nation. Canadians have the right to celebrate their history in the light of balanced consideration and proper historical context.  They should not be shamed into renaming institutions, taking down statues, or chastened into thinking of themselves as components of a pariah nation. It is not historically accurate or fair. Every community in Canada should celebrate Canada Day with pride because, in the end, Canada is a country worth celebrating.

Rudyard Griffiths: Instead of reconciliation, we are busy with pointless acts of retribution | The Hub

 

A Call to Service

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Spare a thought for the next group of candidates for Local, Provincial, and Federal political office. They will face the greatest challenges ever facing this country during peacetime.  And they will be replacing incumbents who have used the cover of Covid-19 to build a new society in their personal image.   In the process, Canada’s economy has been trashed in the cause of contrived emergencies; social values upended to create imaginary persecuted groups; and fresh versions of revisionist history been embedded daily in school curricula.

Streets are filled with the victims of a drug abuse epidemic, financial reserves eradicated and replaced with a federal debt level which, per capita, is the highest in the nation’s history. Canadians have been walked back from decades of improvement in living standards, diminishing social problems, and internationally competitive technological achievements.

Despite being in the forefront of world medical science Canada’s Federal and Provincial leaders have managed to surpass each other’s incompetence by building on successive missteps in what should have been an achievable vaccination program. The list of governance disasters in every area, which, in more capable hands would have been foreseeable, grows daily.

If you know people with enough management skill to rein in public sector workers, who see nothing wrong in ever growing deficits and to whom cost control is a filthy phrase, encourage them to step forward – we need them. Their task is simple enough to describe – Reclaim! Recover! Rebuild!

Achieving this task will take not only determination on their part but much cooperation on ours – it is always true that we only get the government we deserve.