Covid has made it super obvious that our leaders have it all backwards.

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If there are two things the pandemic has highlighted for me, it is that the lack of personal and professional accountability is literally a disease in itself, and that our system of political representation is fucking broken..

Humans are selfish by nature, but from the anti-mask protests to the inexcusable behaviour of elected officials and lack of transparency from them, it has been made really clear to me that we have entered into the Golden Age of ME ME ME and POWER POWER POWER.

Don’t get me wrong, I also think that this whole thing has brought out some beautiful philanthropy, spirit of community and willingness to adapt from many people, but like everything in this world lately, the way we have responded personally to this pandemic is as polarized as North and South.

I have been hugely disappointed in my elected representatives and their arrogance, personal conduct and lack of direct honesty. It got me thinking: Are they all just a bunch of total assholes who walk around with their dicks in their hand try to remind you how important they are? Are they reminding us that they hold all the cards and the rest of us are just minions, here to just eat shit while they do whatever they want? OR are they just trying to hide their own ineptitudes and shortcomings by putting up this brave front that includes verbally abusing media and constituents and trying to avoid answering questions by discrediting the questioner?

Honestly, I think it’s all of those things.

We have a problem here. The people in charge have it all backwards.

The spirit of democracy is that communities vote to have someone represent them, to be their voice, to listen. We are supposed to elect people to represent our unique needs and advocate for us. We are supposed to elect people that will hear us, and empathize, and try to be fair. We have a right to expect honesty, transparency, and the ability to account for mistakes openly. We expect mutual respect and an ability to compromise what they might personally believe because they were elected to represent the WHOLE community, not their own interests.

Unfortunately, it just isn’t working that way.

What appears to be happening, is that the political party’s are representing THEIR actions and policies to US. They make decisions that are based on their values and desires, and then spend their time justifying them to US. They break their own rules and won’t apologize, account or even acknowledge them. They block our ability to communicate with them. They try to discredit the people who ask tough questions because they either don’t have the answers and are to proud to admit it, or simply don’t have the integrity to deal in truths.

No wonder they are so pissed off all the time. Constantly trying to justify things that aren’t justifyable is bloody exhausting.

If we truly want to fix this, we need to get back to the spirit of what democracy is about. Level the playing field, so that anyone selected as a candidate gets funded equally to campaign. Give grassroots people and communities equal power and opportunity to best represent what their community actually needs.

Abolish the party system.

Have separate votes for specific cabinet portfolios such as Health, Education, Justice, Arts, that would create an opportunity for specialists in those fields to spearhead departments that are based on expertise and who have a hot fucking clue what they are in charge of. Create a Cabinet that isn’t rooted in maintaining party lines, but in well informed humans having to discuss and to compromise and learn from each other in an effort to actually solve a few things in our society.

WHAT IF, this all became less about power and money and actually became a group of leaders who were finally leading people and inspiring them as they were meant to be doing, rather than trying to manage things according to their priorities and “ruling” us?

WHAT IF we could make this better?

WHAT IF, indeed.

If not being a c%^t makes me a radical leftist, I’m okay with that.

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”I love that you’re a socialist now”-words uttered at my kitchen table by my bestie last night over our own little wine and cheese party for two.

She was teasing me of course, because in today’s world there seems to be no in between anymore on the political spectrum and I’m pretty sure that was a tongue in cheek comment on that very thing.

The political landscape these days is pretty fucking polarized, in case any of you have been living under a rock or getting by with your heads firmly implanted in the sand.

The conservative side of things is no longer the right side of decades past. What we are seeing is a political point of view that seems firmly rooted in bigotry, extreme religious views that leave no respect or room for other faiths, continued exploitation of the vulnerable, and the growth of a wealth gap so wide that soon everyone but the extremely wealthy will tumble in.

Contrary to that, believing in a true living wage, the protection of vulnerable people, supporting the well being of all and leveling the playing field for everyone regardless of the socio-economic status of their families is suddenly considered radical views that support government control over every aspect of our lives and the inability to achieve higher levels of wealth.

Well, if believing that our responsibilities as humans include taking care of the basic needs of all the people in our society makes me a ”radical leftist”, than I guess I just jumped onto that wagon.

Personally, I truly believe that if we continue to constantly throw tax deductable charity dollars at the symptoms of everything wrong with the structure of our society, instead of eliminating the reason we need to do so, things will never, ever change.

I’d be willing to bet that the majority of crimes are perpetuated by trauma and poverty, and the cycles that occur between generations of things like abuse, neglect, and addiction. People who don’t have to worry about shelter, food, safety and love don’t generally decide that they would like to grow up and be a professional asshole.

So sure, folks to the right of center believe the answer is to write a few checks a year for meal programs in schools and increasing the police presence in neighbourhoods with higher crime rates. After all, they are the ones who cough up more charity dollars than us radical leftists, right?

But what if the answer is really to guarantee that every single person who works a full time job is able to have a houses/apartment AND food AND heat? And if they aren’t capable of doing so for a multitude of reasons, like caring for medically fragile children or parents, having a disability, or mental health problems for example, they still get to have all of those necessities.

I firmly believe that we will never, ever EVER solve any of the problems with crime unless we eliminate poverty. If we eliminate the reasons for desperation, people generally feel less desperate. If you are constantly consumed by the worry of paying your rent and whether you can feed yourself, you generally have a lot less time to further your marketable skills or education or deal with your emotional bullshit. People in survival mode do just that- they survive and there is not generally room for much beyond that.

My capitalist/conservative friends would exclaim that what they want is for EVERYONE to have the opportunity to make a six figure salary and that countries with socialized medicine/education/systems rely on controlling heir citizens and preventing them from achieving things.

That argument just simply doesn’t make any sense to me. True capitalism relies on the exploitation of SOMEONE, usually a vulnerable community, in order to succeed, and a bag of believable lies that they want everyone to succeed when what they really mean is the ”right kind” of people”.

It just simply doesn’t work that way.

So yes.

I fucking believe that everyone should have a guarantee that they have the basics in life. A house. Food in their fridge. An education. Health care. Counselling.

If that means that the guy making ten bajillion dollars a year has to contribute nine of those ten bajillion dollars to make sure that every single human in this country has food to eat and a warm place to live, I am cool with that too.

And if being a decent human being makes me a radical fucking leftist, then I am cool with that too.

And if it makes you hate me that I will advocate forever for us to protect, love and heal the vulnerable people of this earth which means that you or someone else might have to be a little LESS rich, I am also cool with that.

Mark 10:25 ”It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

I can’t have anyone over. I can’t go anywhere to visit. My 76 old Dad spent Christmas alone rather than with us. My daughter is badly in need of some new pants but she grew and I’m not sure what size. I can’t take her to a store to try on new ones. I’m not […]