Once again the US procedural republic adds another padlock to the door that would lead the nation onward on the road to democracy. As has been the case over the last few years, it is the US Supreme Court that has decided to enact the rules of empire at the
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the disgruntled democrat: Brian Gibb (313-500? ppm)
We live by numbers and some more important than others. Some don’t change often so we keep them in our head: age, date of birth, height, weight, phone number, address, various PINs, salary, and our own social insurance number. Others vary on a daily basis so we check them regularly
Continue readingthe disgruntled democrat: The New Empire Is American as Apple Inc.
In his influential blog post, Empires Then and Now, the former associate editor of the Wall Street Journal, Paul Craig Roberts, muses about the nature of the New Empire. According to Roberts, “the New Empire is different. It happens without achieving conquest . . . In the New Empire success
Continue readingthe disgruntled democrat: Oh Canada, How Long Will You Remain an English Settler State?
The latest statistics from the National Household Survey indicate that one out of five Canadians was born outside of the country. The report states that “Canada is a nation with an ethnocultural mosaic as indicated by its immigrant population, the ethnocultural backgrounds of its people, the visible minority population, linguistic
Continue readingthe disgruntled democrat: My Democratic Dreams Were Shattered by Those Who Pilfer the Public Purse in Quebec
Apparently, what I want, I can’t have. I would like to live in a democratic state where I could participate meaningfully in the political decisions to be made. Living in Quebec, however, the most corrupt province or state in North America, my democratic dreams are just that, wishful thinking totally
Continue readingthe disgruntled democrat: It Ain’t About the Economy; It’s About Politics
At the outset, when I first began this blog, I wanted to bring to the reader’s attention some of the cultural myths arising from our political economy that we usually take for granted and, as a result, don’t give much thought to, ascribing to them instead, the status of received
Continue readingthe disgruntled democrat: Like Lobsters Caught in a Trap, Americans Are Held Prisoners By Their Procedural Republic
The news coming out of the USA last week was pretty bleak: another senseless act of indiscriminate violence at the Boston Marathon, where two home-made bombs were detonated amongst the spectators, killing three, including a young child, and maiming hundreds. Yet, against this backdrop of blood running in the streets,
Continue readingthe disgruntled democrat: As Public Virtue Collapses Around Me, All I Can Do Is Watch and Write
I live in Quebec, Canada’s only French speaking province. Here, the socio-economic system was crafted to be extremely resistant to institutional change. It is what it is. Most of the people have been duped into believing that they live in a democracy, so I take it is beyond their capacity
Continue readingthe disgruntled democrat: The Triumph of The American Matrix
The matrix has its roots in primitive arcade games. … Cyberspace. A consensual hallucination experienced daily by billions of legitimate operators, in every nation, by children being taught mathematical concepts. … A graphic representation of data abstracted from banks of every computer in the human system. Unthinkable complexity. Lines of
Continue readingthe disgruntled democrat: The Economics of Empire
More than four years have passed since the collapse of the world’s financial system. A crippling economic recession lingers as economic growth continues to be anemic as the economy fluctuates between expansion and contraction. Yet, stock markets in the US and the UK approach their all-time records with regard to their valuation.Welcome
Continue readingthe disgruntled democrat: While the American Empire Prospers, the Nation Becomes a War Zone
There are two Americas: the imagined community called the nation otherwise known as the United States of America to which the vast majority believes to include all American citizens and the American Empire, successor to the British Empire, which operates globally for the principle benefit of a corporate plutocracy that
Continue readingthe disgruntled democrat: Democracy in America: How the Big Lie Rolls On and On
I get democracy. It is a set of political institutions that allows the demos, otherwise known as the multitudes, otherwise known as the people, to self-rule. By its very nature it is opposed to the rule of the one (monarchy, dictator, emperor) and the rule of the many (aristocracy, oligarchy,
Continue readingthe disgruntled democrat: Calling Out the Tellers of the Hell-monger’s Tale
Enthralled by Mammon, the tellers of the Hell-monger’s Tale seek to turn the planet from an earthly paradise into a living hell. In fact, burning up the world’s stock of fossil fuels would make most of the earth inhospitable for humans. Spurred on by their insatiable greed, they spread their
Continue readingthe disgruntled democrat: America Is in the Thrall of Future Shock
Observing what’s happening in the US as Americans are only six weeks from electing their president, I am struck by a society in complete disarray. A stalled economy, more than 40 million people living on food stamps, the lowest labor force participation rate since the end of the second world war,
Continue readingthe disgruntled democrat: Notwithstanding the One Whacko, Quebec’s Collective Intelligence Prevails
Calling a general election during the summer months in order to avoid the anticipated turmoil of a government commission mandated to investigate corruption in the construction industry and dragging out the student strike so to make it a campaign issue didn’t go very well for the former Premier of Quebec,
Continue readingthe disgruntled democrat: WTF Even My Strategic Vote Won’t Count
Before I start my rant, it should be known that I have been a candidate for political parties that wanted to change the voting system on four occasions. I have also been a militant for civic organizations that shared the same aim. I have even gone as far as to organize
Continue readingthe disgruntled democrat: A Three Ring Circus, a Horse Race, and a Pussy Riot
It’s a funny thing living in the second decade of the twenty-first century. There’s such a wide gap between our technological reach and our social institutions. On the same day, I can view the latest images beamed back from the planet Mars and learn that the young women from the
Continue readingthe disgruntled democrat: The Economic Freedom of the Few Limits the Political Freedom of the Many
Politics is all about who decides on whose behalf. Inevitably, political decisions entail winners and losers. In an ideal world, political decisions would be made by inclusive institutions that allow for a thorough analysis of the substantive issues in which the will of the majority prevails. Sadly, this is not
Continue readingthe disgruntled democrat: Democracy’s Last Conquest: The Anglo-American Empire
Slowly but surely democracy is spreading and finding roots around the world. The latest countries to begin their path towards democratic governance are Tunisia and Libya. In both countries, democratic elections were held to fill the void left by the toppling of a tyrannical dictator. Looking at a map of
Continue readingthe disgruntled democrat: Canada’s Lamentable Lack of Imagination
When I was a kid growing up, I thought Canada was cool. Canada’s centennial celebrations made me believe that as a young country we were just coming into our own. A few years later, Paul Henderson scored the winning goal to beat the Soviets, which proved we were the best
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