"Why I am Not ---"

 

Why I am not a Liberal, Progressive, Socialist, Communist or Independent

Not that anyone cares except me, and perhaps my poor enduring wife.

 

I was hoping to be able to sit down at my computer and write about funny things. You know humorous things that have occurred over the past few days.  I find humour in my life almost every day. Stuff that most would ignore, but I like to see the funny in life. Just look above when I, as  a Canadian, spell humour with a U. My computer will insist that I should change the spelling to humor. I don’t like OR so get over it.  The Queen’s English has always been OU, and that is good enough for me.

My long title will tell you what I am not. I am not sure I can explain what I am.  It would seem that I really don’t have many choices, Conservative pops to the front of the line and I guess we will hang our hat on that hook for now. While growing up in the 1930’s  40’s and 50’s in Toronto and Montreal and in a small rural town called Brampton, politics were rarely discussed but I got the impression that my parents were voting Conservative most of the time.

I learned from asking questions about the candidates running for Federal and Provincial office as to what it meant if they were running under a certain political party. We don’t vote communist party because those people are socialists and want the state to be totally in charge of your life; you want to make your own decisions in your life don’t you?  Liberals say they are more caring for the well being of the population and are in favour of more government involvement in your life by providing us with programs they think we need or want. Conservatives are the party of big business and small government.  Fewer laws and less involvement in your day to day life. Many people look at the conservatives as cold calculating non caring money grabbers taking from the poor to line their pockets. Conservatives also think that you are as good as you think you are and that there is no limit to what you can accomplish if you are left alone to fulfill your own dreams. That sounded pretty good to me. Let me loose world, I am going to be a conservative voter. I am going to try to make it on my own.

One problem, the theory was good but I was a 16 year old, grade nine drop out from high school with only a few things on my mind such as boats and cars and sometime later “Girls”. Even a job came in second to all of these other important parts of my life. I do remember before I was 30 years old, the current Liberal government introducing the “Canada Pension Plan”. This plan would have every Canadian citizen registered with their own number, you’re given and sir name was to have that number attached.  Was this not getting very close to Bible teaching about the Anti Christ and the number 666 and every citizen if they were to exist under the Anti Christ would have to have a special number permanently affixed to their body?  It didn’t take much investigation to figure that the compulsory government plan could not compete with a dedicated private savings plan and so I opted out of registering for some time.  When the powers that be were finally on my case, I was informed that I would not have to have a social insurance number but I would still have to pay as everyone else into the plan. However, without a number affixed to my name, I would not be able to collect this pension in my senior years. This is called government control and has stuck with me for a long time, being just a number rather than an individual. 

Our OHIP came into existence about the same time in 1966.  This is the National Health Care plan that is administered by each of the provinces and so it is not an all encompassing plan as every province has tweaked it to their liking and it can be very confusing for the travelling public going from province to province. Being who I am, I much prefer the former US system, buy your own health insurance and receive the best care your insurance company will allow. Choices are for me, and in the USA you had lots of choices but you were obliged to look after your own affairs and not depend on a non caring lot of government bureaucrats.  Let me be clear, where it is necessary in a country of thirty plus million citizens, a caring government has an obligation to look after those who can’t look after themselves. I am not sure if the same can be said for a country ten times as large. Howeve,r when a population is given only two choices, either you’re in or you’re out, that borders on socialism. To-day, with the new “Obamacare” rearing its ugly head, who knows what the public will have in store.  One thing is certain; it will be a long time before the US will see a better plan than what they have had in the past.

A few years ago, the difference between Conservatives and Liberals was academic. Within the past few years, the left and the right have been driven further and further apart.  The left is more left than ever and the right has tried to keep up with the popularity of the welfare state and fallen into a very difficult position. This divide has been further widened by both sides taking their position of power to the extreme and in some cases going beyond the constraints of the law. Friendships and families have been torn apart because of the depth of anger built up between differing views and seeing the abuses our leaders have taken. My conservative philosophies have vanished in a maze of “me tooism”. 

Our forefathers  would turn over in their graves if they saw how our two great political parties, Conservatives and Liberals, Republican and Democrats, in our two great countries, degraded to nothing more than whining jackals  groveling at the feet of the banks, big business, big money, the media and Unions for votes and campaign funds. I am appalled at the situation in my province of Ontario. Our former Premier fled his seat of power before being held accountable for willfully wasting two billion dollars plus, to buy two seats for his Liberal party thus allowing his party to remain in power.  His appointed successor (not elected by the public”)  was later elected in spite of the scandal, by a population that is made up primarily of new Canadians looking for a free ride on the backs of generations of hard working Canadians. Not to mention that the Conservatives put up a very weak alternative candidate.  This government was also elected by giving the teachers’ union an increase of half a billion dollars in benefits and wage increases. Our teachers in Ontario are the highest paid in North America and we are now a “have not” province with a debt per capita that is higher than that of California. Ten years ago we were the driving force of industry and commerce and now, under Liberal leadership we are being supported by many of the “have” provinces.

What can be said for the great country south of us? The USA in a few short years has turned friends with a difference of opinion regarding their political views, at each other’s throats with venomous thoughts and words. They have a President that has taken the country to its knees financially and politically and has done as much to harm this great nation as any could in five short years. This thought is not shared by many who for some reason do not see or do not want to see the writing on the wall. No nation can continue to spend more than it’s GNP and sustain itself for ever, even running the printing presses overtime, printing more and more billions of dollars a month. The world is watching and waiting:  Real unemployment of more than 20%, acknowledged debt of more than 18 Trillion dollars, and unfunded liabilities “entitlement debt” that is owed the US public. This amount by some estimates is staggering and could amount to as much as 220 Trillion US dollars. Is it any wonder the world is concerned? 

So why does the average American hear very little about this deplorable state that the USA is in? If the media were to do their job and warn Americans of the pending disaster that is almost upon them, there would be panic in the stock market and in the streets. Perhaps it is a good thing we have a media that only reports what they are told.

My conservative party is not at all what I want to vote for. They resist keeping a reasonable armed force to protect me. They take my hard earned money and give it to strangers.  Politicians mandate that they are well looked after with high salaries and pensions.  They change the rules to suit themselves many times leaving the small business man scrambling.  They put forth legislation that allows our most valued resource, our children to be slaughtered in and sometimes outside the womb. We have no abortion laws.

 I am tired of going to the polls and having no choice except to vote against a candidate. Is it any wonder voter turnout is getting lower and lower.

Did you know?   That a Trillion is 1,000 Billion. The US has more debt than the rest of the world combined.