Good Sunday Morning!
Hello all – John subbing in again, to give new grandmother Elizabeth just a little more time with her new Lily, and perhaps even a bit of respite from her overwhelming (well, it would be overwhelming to anyone else) work. (although this is also the weekend of the Green Special General meeting!)
As Greens try to figure out how we reach voters, I’m struggling with two questions: 1/ the “neoliberal” economy is not working – turns out rising tides don’t lift all boats (surprise, surprise), or as Gus Speth (former head of UNEP) once said, “A rising tide lifts all yachts.” The chasm between rich and poor grows, and we are destroying the biosphere for profit, and 2/ there doesn’t appear to be a convincing way to tell a story about climate change and corporate responsibility.
To the first question: Aren’t these hard times? More and more people giving up on political engagement, leaving the field wide open for autocrats and wanna-be dictators. Trump and Musk in the US, their little bitty imitator Pierre Poilievre here at home, Orban in Hungary, le Pen in France, the unspeakable Nigel Farage in the UK, another Marcos in the Philippines, on and on. Retreat from climate action all over the planet, led by the already wealthy driving for more profit today, so clearly and directly opposed to the common welfare for the future. And the ever-growing gap, the divide, the chasm between the very rich and everyone else.
We here in the “free” world have been inundated by “free market” propaganda since Freidrich Hayek’s 1944 book “The Road to Serfdom”, then the loud and influential voice of Milton Friedman and the Chicago School of Economics, the victories of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s, and the continued “financialization” of the world’s economies. The general philosophy is that the market is the proper locus for decision-making for nearly everything. Many believe that the “discipline of the market” should bear even on social purposes like health care and education. It has led massive corporations, many of them larger than governments, to stand astride the world, managing their operations for the benefit only of their shareholders and their captive governments. This we call “neoliberalism”, the dominant mode of thought, the environment in which we live. And, like fish who cannot imagine an environment other than water, we tacitly accept this particular economic / financial arrangement as if it were just the natural thing, not a matter of choice.
At the limit, we get Trump and Musk, bound together like the disciplinary rods, the fasces, of ancient Rome, fascists in name and in fact. This is only different in degree from the alliances everywhere between governments and the rich. If political success depends upon support from the very rich, then one’s government has little choice but to join in the collective bribery needed to keep their business. Any US president will be inextricably linked with the money.
And in Canada, we have only a few degrees of economic freedom. We are the chief economic colony in the American empire. For us to keep getting richer from that relationship, our economy has to move with the Americans. Mr. Trump is vowing to cut corporate taxes again – the very first predictable cry from Canada’s big banks and businesses is that Canada will have to do the same, or we won’t be “competitive” and won’t be as attractive for foreign investment. Perhaps they’re right. But perhaps competing for international corporate finance is choosing the wrong field of play. If we decide to compete with Trump and Musk to provide a “level playing field” for investors, we will surely lose.
What if we tried to get it straight, rather than tinkering around the edges? Perhaps non-market housing should be built by people who are not in the market – public funds, public land, a call for builders to build, not to own and resell, with co-operative ownership over the long term. Perhaps companies that pollute should fix what they’re doing or cease operations. Perhaps corporate tax policies should be designed to finance social needs. Perhaps the GDP would take a hit. But perhaps GDP is not the best indicator of wellbeing anyway. It is surely time to get out of this endless chase for greater profit for those who already have the financial strength to affect the choices of governments. Are Greens bold enough to take this on?
To the second issue: it seems to me that we’re losing our collective ability to tell or hear a narrative longer than one episode. It’s not clear to me that democracy can work this way.
Elizabeth and others around the world have been trying for years to tell the climate story, to find the narrative thread. We’ve all been expecting that some event will make the long story compelling and tip the scales, that eventually one more fire or flood or hurricane will trigger a common realization that action is required. But it seems more and more unlikely – each new catastrophe takes up a minute or two in the daily news cycle, then disappears. None seems to build to complete story, with a beginning, a middle and an end. And it’s not just climate change, it’s the same for any issue that is more complex than an immediate hit and feedback. So Trump gets elected saying “I’ll fix it.” Poilievre seems likely to be elected with similar simplistic, not to say simple-minded, substance-free slogans.
I’ve heard from teachers that kids are losing the capacity for “executive functioning”, for chaining a series of events or actions together to come eventually to a conclusion. The internet has become an always-on immediate feedback machine of posts and reactions, all designed by for-profit corporations to be immediately gratifying and thus addictive. What can this mean for democratic decision-making? Surely it is not helpful. Surely it makes our democracies even more easily manipulated by people who are making long-run plans?
For those involved even peripherally in any political process, how on earth do we try to tell stories, make narratives, to encourage people to look just a little bit past the moment? The recent BC election was a case in point – despite the BC Greens’ attempt to frame a discussion around a “wellbeing” economy, the only issues discussed were immediate personal economic matters – questions about health, climate, housing, etc., all were subsumed into concerns about today’s cost of living.
I have no answers to this, just questions. But we are building a platform for the upcoming election, and your suggestions could help to guide the outcome.
And let me apologize for this long and rambling letter – I have had a month of COVID, and my brain is still not fully accessible. You’ll be returned to your customary correspondent next week, to your great relief.
And speaking of Elizabeth, here is a clip that will bring a smile to your face. And she has a PS to get signatures on one of her new petitions – deadline to sign December 14!
Cheers all,
John
PS
Petition to the House of Commons
Whereas:
- There is growing scientific consensus that animals are sentient beings who can feel pain, suffering, and emotional distress;
- The Canadian Veterinary Medical Association (CVMA) recognizes that all vertebrates, and likely many invertebrates, are sentient and must be treated with care and compassion;
- The European Union, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and other countries already recognize animal sentience in law;
- The province of Quebec already recognizes animal sentience in law; and
- Recognizing animal sentience in Canadian law would demonstrate our country’s commitment to animal welfare.
We, the undersigned, citizens and residents of Canada, call upon the House of Commons to amend Canadian law to recognize animals as sentient beings.
History
Open for signature November 14, 2024, at 12:03 p.m. (EDT). Closed for signature December 14, 2024, at 12:03 p.m. (EDT)
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