Lately, I have been intrigued by the tale of the Emperor’s New Clothes as a modern take on how the vast majority of people behave when it comes to speaking truth to power. The Hans Christian Andersen version of the story goes like this: A vain Emperor who cares about nothing
Continue readingAuthor: brian gibb
the disgruntled democrat: Groundhog Day in Quebec: Another Boomer-Driven Lose-Lose Election
A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it. (Max Planck) The big problem with the latest Quebec general election is that once
Continue readingthe disgruntled democrat: WTF! In Quebec, Even If I Don’t Vote I Still Get Screwed!
You have to admit that when it comes to maintaining their stranglehold on political power in Quebec, the two major parties, the PLQ (the Quebec Liberal Party) and the PQ (the Parti Québécois) can be very ingenious. They need to be. Revelations at the Charbonneau Commission indicate that both parties
Continue readingthe disgruntled democrat: The Quebec General Election 2014 Is A Game For Idiots
Yesterday, the outgoing Premier of Quebec, Pauline Marios, requested that the provincial legislature be dissolved, thereby sending Quebecers to the urns for a general election on April 7. Hey wait a minute. Didn’t the Quebec legislature unanimously adopt a law that would have general elections held on fixed dates every four years? It
Continue readingthe disgruntled democrat: Three Reasons Why This Anglo Is Thinking About Leaving Quebec: Breach of Trust, Loss of Confidence, Demographics
Truth be told, I have lived in Quebec for the last twenty years. Last week, not much of a surprise, a poll revealed that about 50% of the anglophone and allophone respondents were thinking about moving out of Quebec. Too bad I wasn’t contacted. I would have loved to explain why.
Continue readingthe disgruntled democrat: Given Today’s Technology, Why Do We Continue To Elect Representatives From Political Parties?
Canada’s political institutions have not evolved significantly from their conception nearly 150 years ago. We still regularly go to the polls and choose between the candidates from various political parties to represent us in Parliament and in the provincial legislatures. Effectively, we transfer our popular sovereignty to a few individuals,
Continue readingthe disgruntled democrat: In Canada’s Contested Vote Exchange the Biggest Losers Are Democrats
Although Canadians like to think of themselves governed by a modern democratic state, in reality, we are still governed by a colonial form of government that is a vestige of the British Empire. Our Head of State is a foreign monarch, Queen Elizabeth II; the Prime Minister is chosen by the Crown’s
Continue readingthe disgruntled democrat: Canada’s Chief Electoral Officer: A Disgruntled Democrat?
In reaction to a government bill that would prevent Canada’s Chief Electoral Officer, Marc Mayrand, from speaking publicly about the quality of Canada’s Electoral System, he went on record to state: “I’m not aware of any electoral bodies around the world who can not talk about democracy” and that “my
Continue readingthe disgruntled democrat: Inequality Is What America Is All About
Change you can believe in. Yeah right. There are some things that never change and one of them is the tendency for the rich to get richer at everyone else’s expense, especially in America. Since the onset of the Great Recession in 2008, 95% of the gains have gone to
Continue readingthe disgruntled democrat: The Pathetic State of Politics in Quebec
The more we find out how corrupt the leading figures are in Quebec, the more it makes me want to move across the river in Ontario. Where does it stop? Nobody knows and I think the Charbonneau Commission is just scratching the surface. With regard to politics, we have learned that
Continue readingthe disgruntled democrat: Ditch the North American Diet and Climb Out of the Fat Trap
We are a fat folk, myself included. One out of three of us are overweight and one out of five are obese. And boy do we love to eat. Trouble is we have no idea how to go about eating in a healthy manner. We jam out gullets full with fat, sugar,
Continue readingthe disgruntled democrat: Year in Review: Canadians No Longer Have Reason to Feel Smug
There was a time when Canadians could feel a quiet pride about their country: peacekeeping roles with the United Nations, generous social programs, young Canadians cavorting around Europe with Canadian flags stitched onto their backpacks. We were the quieter, gentler version of America. Well, this year all those notions got
Continue readingthe disgruntled democrat: Merry Christmas America: You’ve Been Scrooged
As the holidays draw nearer, it appears that, judging from president Obama’s speech on economic inequality last week, he finally gets it: America has been scrooged. I think that this year enough people finally honed in on the fact that while many Americans stuffed themselves at the dinner table on Thanksgiving
Continue readingthe disgruntled democrat: Canada’s Rob Ford Is Far Too Canadian
In other words, just dessert Canada for not taking care of your political institutions. Take a look around: an out-dated voting system, scandal in the Senate, documented voter suppression through robo calls, rampant corruption in the province of Quebec, and a big, fat, crack smoking mayor of Canada’s largest, world class (but
Continue readingthe disgruntled democrat: Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up To Play Football
That’s it. After forty years of watching NFL football, it’s over. I cannot in good conscience watch another game, especially knowing what I know about the league and the devastating effects playing the game can have long after the players have hung up their cleats. I loved football and I
Continue readingthe disgruntled democrat: Catastrophic Climate Breakdown: Ho Hum, We All Got ADD
Over the last few days, I have watched with great interest how the media and people I know reacted to the latest release of the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report that updates its prognosis for the planet. As you can well imagine, there wasn’t much of a response nether in
Continue readingthe disgruntled democrat: Note to Self: Canadians Really Like First-Past-The-Past Voting
Truth be told, I was a political activist that worked for about ten years trying to get the voting system changed so that each and every vote cast in an election would count and that the composititon of our elected legislatures would reflect accurately the manner in which people had
Continue readingthe disgruntled democrat: Burbocracy Drives North American Politics
The most tangible cornerstone that lies at the heart of the American Dream, at the heart of middle-class life, is the chance to own your own home. (Barack Obama) Before I get started, here’s a quick glance at the history of political geography. During the classical period, politics
Continue readingthe disgruntled democrat: Will the Collapse of the Middle Class Bring About Democracy in America?
As the twenty-aughts gave way to the twenty-teens, it became readily apparent that the recovery from the Great Recession was not working its way throughout the entire population. As was the case before the onset, the top 1% of revenue earners continued to take the lion’s share of the nation’s economic
Continue readingthe disgruntled democrat: Hey America, Wake up and Smell the Methane
This week, I watched the premiere of Josh Fox’s documentary film, Gasland II. Very troubling. The story line confirms that America has lost its moorings and has veered off in a new direction, casting off the poor lost souls who have the misfortune of standing in the way of corporate
Continue reading