Horizons & Protests in a Pathless Land

Retweeted Elizabeth Warren (@elizabethforma): Coretta Scott King said: “Struggle is a never-ending process. Freedom is never really won, you earn it & win it in every generation.”

Unless people are too lazy, poorly fed, under-informed or over-entertained to meaningfully protest, I would add.  Pseudo-anarchists smashing windows, wearing masks or burning cop cars is a poor way to achieve freedom, serving only to reinforce the opposite, yes?  (There, I feel better already.)

But I agree with Warren and King. Ideals are like the horizon: never actually reachable but necessarily kept in our views while we gradually advance. Without these, we may become lost. Ideals are why scientists – or religious adherents, for that matter – search.

However, according to an ancient Zen master, if you meet Buddha on road, they are to be killed. (This – the road, the Buddha, the killing – is all meant figuratively, of course.)

Private versus Public Capital: Our World

I’ve read a couple of Chomsky’s books. Saw him speak once. And I have great respect for his intellect. But by making the distinction of “private” capital, he invites the discussion of “public” capital: taxes, fees and corporate royalties which pay for all things public.

I think that truly essential services should be funded and regulated by those who collect and govern public capital. These things cannot be done effectively by individuals or small groups and facilitate a large, demonstrative public good. These must not be relegated to private interests: basic research and proper education, responding to large crises and international calamity, policing, firefighting, universal health care needs, national defense, international efforts, environmental stewardship, water supply and robust regulation of related private interests…

But Chomsky ignores the fact that governments far too often are comfortable just to fall into doing too much and regulating too little. What business does the government have in selling alcohol? In building buildings? In a host of other things that undermine our trust in them and politicians when the core functions of government are left to languish

Successful private interests thrive by wanting to be better than the competition, to solve problems, to meet needs and wants, to accrue capital, public or private. Governments merely want votes. What they really need is focus.

Liberty, Equality & Fraternity… Or Death?

Marine Le Pen, French elections and cultural protectionism being on the rise (which also happens to fuel racism) is on my mind.

Legal migrants supported Trump en masse in Florida and elsewhere because they worked hard to jump through the right hoops to arrive. Coming from immigrant stock, as most of us do, I’d agree, in fact. And much of Le Pen’s message resonates with people: it is reasonable, if only from France’s perspective. However, ironically, France has done little to minimize the ghettoization of French immigrants for decades in the outer rings of Paris, creating great inequity for and enmity about brown peoples. Increasing inequity amongst peoples in the lands of France where “liberté, égalité, fraternité” is the official motto.

However, in reality, the horse is already out of the barn… Refugee numbers are a huge problem, beyond national borders and narrow interests. There are literally hundreds of millions of displaced peoples / refugees from failing or failed states. Until and unless these countries turn things around internally, do not the rest of Earth’s better off people have at least some responsibility for our fellow humans? Add in explicit language development requirements. Add in better screening for prior criminal records. Add in employment timeframes that if unmet result in deportation by informed consent. Something better than what many places, including Canada, have currently. Get more international pressures by international agencies (UN, IMF, etc.) that reform or remove global bad actors.

But in the meantime we have a humanitarian duty to help if and when we can, yes? Would we not expect the same if we were in the positions of refugees? To do nothing and instead allow these people to fester in terrible conditions is much more of a boon to terrorist development in the long run…

The original version of France’s motto? “One and indivisible Republic – Liberty, Equality, Fraternity or Death” Have you seen the news? Ignoring these principles anywhere – or merely giving them lip service – does appear to invite inequity, terrorism… and death.

#Trump #MarieLePen #immigration #refugees #terrorism #France #Canada

Fair is Fair, Right?

Everyone – from babes to baboons – know what fairness looks like, or at least feels like. Fair is fair, right? We know this. And yet also, as Leonard Cohen so truthfully wrote, “everybody knows” that the many societal structures designed to facilitate fairness beyond our personal boundaries are neither necessarily nor perpetually in balance. However idealized they may be, just as our greatest halls of justice, as example, are built to seem immutable, unchanging, solid, perfected.

Speaking of justice, there is much on display of racism, prejudice or discrimination today. It doesn’t matter what term is used, does it? Of course, people are sometimes oppressed, whether individually or in groups, whether by individuals or by groups. And, sometimes, people are victimized. And too often people continue to see themselves as victims. It is nothing new. And it is still terrible. Yet things are undeniably better than they have historically been, to a great extent, regardless of whatever these current injustices.

Still, we hear now about one group or another being jailed more often, killed more often. What is not talked about or written about as much is that this violence is often intraracial, not interracial. Or intrareligious, not interreligious. Before assumptions are made or accusations formulated, my purpose is to merely continue to work out to whom, what, where, when & why these things happen.

I recall in university learning about rats put in a cage. While at first unaware, they were inevitably given to fighting and even killing each other as the size of their cage or the food and water afforded them was reduced. If a group is truly oppressed in some way, curtailed in their freedoms, constrained in their movements, limited in their resources, of course violence would be directed to each other. And some outward, sooner or later. And there is the oppression we visit upon ourselves, denying ourselves opportunity, feeding ourselves poorly, steeping ourselves in silliness. Of many hues and views, we are all still rats.

Are we truly any different, no matter the source of the cage?

Do we not know what is fair?

“Everybody Knows” by Leonard Cohen 

Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows that the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
That’s how it goes
Everybody knows
Everybody knows that the boat is leaking
Everybody knows that the captain lied
Everybody got this broken feeling
Like their father or their dog just died
Everybody talking to their pockets
Everybody wants a box of chocolates
And a long stem rose
Everybody knows

Leonard Norman Cohen CC GOQ (September 21, 1934 – November 7, 2016) was a Canadian singer, songwriter, musician, poet, novelist, and painter.

“Who gets what?” and “Who says so?”: A political philosophy for our times.

“Who gets what?” and “Who says so?”
These are the two main questions of political philosophy.

(To say nothing of aesthetics, moral philosophy, metaphysics, etc.)

IMHO, most so-called activists (whose actions typically backfire, ironically) muddle through without realizing these questions backstop everything we do in the public sphere. To put it another way: What do I deserve? What must I give? Says who?

Modern feminists – for example – simply do not think (or feel) that females get what they deserve, since they do eventually birth us all. And in some ways I certainly agree. While first world women are far less oppressed than women and girls globally, we all have some work if we want an egalitarian society here, to be sure. But those who I would call pseudo-feminists who verge on “Starbucks violence” cannot articulate what exactly it is they deserve, and when and from whom or from what… Meanwhile women and girls elsewhere endure such suffering, still.

Before we (un)focus on feminism or feminists, please don’t. I raise it only as a ready illustration of the two questions posed. It really does not matter if we talk about PWD, feminists, millennials, liberals, conservatives, activists, anarchists, statists, muslims, christians, blacks, whites, belugas or babies.

“Who gets what?” & “Says who?” These are fundamental, worthy questions of political philosophy, a branch of the love of wisdom that we – all & each of us – complicate by either willful or innocent ignorance. Or – and perhaps worse – by thinking that only we have “The Answer.”

Life, if it is anything, is somewhat fluid, yes?
And sometimes necessarily messy…

Book now. This is what happens when I’m waiting for Ashfield Orthotics clinic patients.

Capitalism or Socialism?

Socialism vs. Capitalism? It is a false dichotomy.

In the most capitalist societies (read: where corporate monopolization and creeping deregulation are common, such as USA and Canada) large multinational corporations are being extremely selfish over the last 5-10 years, sitting on mounds of record profits, rather than spending on R&D or employee wages / benefits. Talk about selfish.

As for socialism, what does it really mean? Full on Marxism – an impractical fantasy of the left – or decades of social programs, public health care and institutions, at least in Canada, that have all but ended pre-vaccination childhood diseases, raised everyone’s standards of living and helped more people get at least basic educations? And we’re as much a capitalist country as a socialist one, last time I checked.

Of course large corporation elites can be greedy bastards. They run state-sanctioned profit centres, after all. And governments can be greedy bastards as well, often run by business titans, lawyers and über-wealthy politicians who tweak our taxes into profit centres too.

Sharing and caring begin with empathy, which is highly contagious, no matter how insulated we seek to become. But empathy can fade with age without periodic inoculations against isms, isolation and various forms of what I term “monocracy.”

Trumpet Trump & Trumpism?!? Opposition are already doing that.

US President Trump is where he is for many reasons. He is factually where he is because enough voters, allowed by the same Constitution that many suggest Trump ignores, simply voted for him. Like it or not. Right or wrong.

Blame liberalism, conservatism, evangelicalism or Islamism It matters little. Blame the price of tea in China. Regardless, his minions will do his bidding and he will do theirs, for a time. Thankfully, we in Canada are – a bit – removed.

(Imagine if the 7 county ban, possibly written by Bannon, makes it to the Supreme court & is ultimately upheld. Recall, there is now a tilt towards conservative thought there. I predict it will fail, however, but simply be re-written to conform to existing US law, with little regard to international conventions.)

I simply find complaining about Trump’s latest tweets, tantrums or policies so utterly useless on social media… Likely quite poor for my digestion, complexion & cognition.

What most opponents of Trump fail to comprehend is that by vilifying him as a person, by advancing special statuses by race or religion, by burning cars, throwing rocks or continually hurling insults, the legions (yes, legions) of supporters of Trump or Trumpism are emboldened, not derailed. Not converted. Not ashamed… But rather further justified – and further confirmed in their choice of an apparent champion – from their perspectives.

It is so easy to see this from outside the ring.

Trump does not read much… Because he doesn’t have to.

There is much chatter going around on US President Trump’s fumbling with teleprompters, of stating that he doesn’t read much, of his apparent difficulty with reading from papers, his proclivity for fact gathering from the television…

Of course Trump can read. Of course he likely also needs to wear glasses. (I’m almost 50 and I’ve needed them for reading for almost 10 years.) And President Trump may even have a touch of ADHD. So? How is a reporter making fun of this reading deficit any different than Trump making fun of a reporter due to physical disability?

Think about it. Trump has more money that all my friends and family combined. He’s had a lifetime of using that money to hire advisors to explain things, lawyers to draft documents and others to read & summarize what he needs to know. A decision maker? Yes, undoubtedly. But intellectually curious? Likely not…

As for the avid book readers out there – amongst whom I count myself – so what?

Did you know most newspapers are written at a grade 8 level, at most? And when is the last time most people read one, never mind an actual book? What does this say about us, the electorate? Or how most societies don’t expect their people to think critically, just re-bleat what they heard on the radio, tv or social media? Obama was head & shoulders above Trump. Still, one only gets so long in the big chair, so they make the most of it.

Like it or not.

Don’t misunderstand me. I am no Trump apologist. He’s largely under-qualified for his current job. And I believe we all need to read more… It does worry me that he will be taken advantage of by political advisors with their own agendas… And let’s remember he was voted in, regardless. I predict much will be forgiven because a mild learning disability of some sort will be revealed, sooner or later. But still suspect he is far smarter than we give him credit for…

And perhaps he is dictatorial. Name a CEO of a huge privately held corporation that is not, to some extent. He’s hardy a benevolent fellow, by most reports. And he does lean to the autocratic. Meanwhile, with ultra-conservative VP Mike Pence likely whispering bible verses in his ear. And the US has the most adults per capita who believe that angels are actually real. I’ve long held that the US is moving more and more toward a corporate theocracy.

Still stumped as to why this surprises people… 

The left will not move the right until and unless we can find ways to empathise with each other as opposed to merely attacking. Trump is merely what has – in hindsight – unsurprisingly filled a vacuum of meaningful discourse and cooperative problem solving versus shrill invectives and entrenched position-taking.

I personally wish Marcus Aurelius was still around.

Better care in Saskatchewan is coming!

Given my small but enjoyable role in health care these days, thought I’d share my thoughts on the latest from our government, here in Saskatchewan.

The health minister just announced adopting the report and all recommendation of a 3-person panel that had been tasked with four specific mandates related to health care structures in Saskatchewan, with a view to improving patient care… We currently have 12 regional health authorities. Soon we’ll have one.

Looking forward to the day when there is even more recognition and integration of related health care providers, in the interest of patient outcomes with more physician input into health care design & accountability.

Consolidation of regulatory-related, non-medical processes – legal, accounting – and administrative functions – IT, billing, HR, dispatch, etc. – sounds quite right. As the minister said, for example, no company “ABC” in Saskatchewan with regional offices has different IT systems in each region. With technologically-facilitated connectedness these days, no reason this provincial health authority cannot happen.

I lived in Alberta working for a large private health and social service-oriented company. If we here can learn from that experience and do better, I say “Bravo!”

(Get severely sick these days and your regional hospital is not nearby? As the systems are, up to now, your ambulance would drive you to it even though the next region’s hospital was closer!)

My prediction?

Competent governance on this scale – the future Board – will set targets and direct management… Then get out of the way – ideally – so more accountable management layers can each help their respective staffs make it all happen, all the way down to operational issues. Going forward in 2017 and 2018, the structures will likely be shaped more according to input from highly knowledgeable decision makers – physicians and other clinicians – and bring about better patient care by truly integrated, community-based health care teams. The result? Another reason to stay in, return to, or grow old in Saskatchewan!

The Full Report

Rebels vs Terrorists

My New Year thoughts?
(And if you agree, please share!)

Like many of you, my grandfathers fought against true tyranny. My father-in-law watched bodies float down the canals in his beloved Netherlands. My father trained soldiers who went to fight later. Others joined resistance in truly occupied lands, during war.

We saw ‘Star Wars: Rogue One’ yesterday. Star Wars is clearly a thoroughly modern retelling of the rise of Naziism versus the resistance, large and small, complete with SS styled uniforms of the Empire and Rebel foot soldiers referring to their female leaders with the thoroughly British honorific of “Mum.”

I have read on FB recently how today’s terrorists apparently identify with our Western portrayal of underdogs in movies, saying that they are actually the rebels and our governments are the Empire. Pure foolishness! True rebels do not – unlike modern terrorists – hide behind innocent civilians when under fire, set off bombs in markets, fill holes with killed captives, drive trucks into celebrations, behead taxi drivers and bomb soft targets to make their misguided points.

When we here rail against – or even for – Trump, Trudeau and other leaders, remember what the real enemies are: a lacking of compassion, disrespect for difference, over-reliance on the state from cradle to grave, letting fear override our actions & our hope…

Here is to a happy 2017 and beyond.