Concern For The Collective
For whatever reason, I am one of those people with a deeply ingrained sense of fair play that recognizes we are more than simply individuals ‘doing our own thing’ in…
Political Philosophy
Has Centralization of Power to the PMO Put Canadian Democracy on Life Support?
Don Lenihan has a must-read column up today, on how centralization of power to the Prime Minister’s office over the past several decades has atrophied the connection Canadians — especially…
"People just don’t care about (political) labels"
From Stephen Carter, Alison Redford’s now former chief of staff who was instrumental in her campaign win: He was, however, willing to talk about the three campaigns that established his…
Lakoff on OWS
This column is about OWS but like most of his writings, it's highly translatable: I think it is a good thing that the occupation movement is not making specific policy…
Occupy Wall Street: The emerging global pro-democracy movement, where it stands, what it means, and where we go from here
The Occupy Wall Street movement, which has already become a global grassroots populist pro-democracy movement, if we have eyes to see, has clearly already won a broad and growing base…
Earth Overshoot Day – cause for a pause to reflect
Yesterday, September 27, the Global Footprint Network declared as Earth Overshoot Day: the day that humans have used up all renewable resources available for the year. Not good. This obviously…
Taxpayers Versus Citizens
It probably doesn't take a genius to understand the basic philosophical and fiscal difference between the moderate and the right-wing is that the moderate recognizes the needs of the collective,…
The schizoid nature of the Western world: Overcoming the root paradox of Western civilization – and our own minds
The Western world is still trapped in a paradox and a self-contradiction of our own making: we are schizoid with regards to the body, the material world and to our…
Word to the bland, blasé and banal – apathy is living death
A song came on the radio today that I have loved all my life – except this time, it was a cover, and it spoke something to me that I…
Built to crash: the coming economic tsunami
`Would you rather have a perfectly efficient system that, if hit by a pebble, would shatter? Or, would you rather have an adaptable system that may not give you the…
The greatest of dangers
The challenge is not to become a machine. The greatest danger is not from outside: the greatest danger is ourselves – that is, the greatest danger is losing touch with…
The system is broken: strategic voting, coalitions, and the political regime under which we live
While I can of course see the rationale for strategic voting, there is much to be said for voting with one’s conscience. When we consistently choose the lesser of two…
So, I’m in the Toronto Star…
Susan Delacourt of the Toronto Star has quoted my blog post. What is a political party anyway? Given that there are so many ways for politicians to connect directly with…
Libertarianism, Anarchism, Socialism and Democracy
Fundamental questions And The future of humanity on earth Or, Further reflections on political economy in the real world The questions of philosophy, and in particular, political philosophy, are of…
Quote of the Day: Bartlett 1, Libertarianism 0.
by matttbastard As we know from history, the free market did not lead to a breakdown of segregation. Indeed, it got much worse, not just because it was enforced by…
Slacktastic Placeholder Post
by matttbastard Busy busy busy lately, kids (and by ‘busy busy busy’ I mean ‘lazy lazy lazy’, as my always-obsessive Twitter output will attest — 140 characters is a lot…
War is Over (OK, Not *Over*, But…)
by matttbastard Was going to pick up on what BooMan, Jed Lewison & Jeff Fecke had to say re: Jane Hamsher’s unholy alliance with Grover fucking Norquist and the more-progressive-than-thou…