#tommulcair

[sukipower]

After a slight hiccup regarding sign size, @jeffkevlar and I are prepared for #elxn42 - the longest campaign since 1872. #ndp #tommulcair #lindamcquaig #thomasmulcair #orangecrush #noCPC #noLPC #cdnpoli

[orangecolouredglasses]

Orange Coloured Glasses

History and context always move politics along. It can happen over a long arc or overnight. With the rise of a new leader or large event what we supported and believed in can change. Finding ourselves voting, and apologizing for values beyond our own. The flip-side of that being that we may need to look at organizing with those that were formally on the other side. Somehow many get stuck in the way things were, or how they were written in manifesto from two centuries past. 

Those that continue to cling to the mantle of ideologies that really never were fully seen through or practised, serve to hold us all back from moving into a new way of relating and organizing. 

We can move beyond the parochial politics of yesterday with out abandoning the core values that defined ideas and practices that took us there. There are some on the Canadian "left" that continue to rail against all forms of business and capitalism. Often these are the same people that give a subtle pass to the brutal history of Stalin or Mao in the name of the supposed greater good. The revolution has not failed when young committed Canadians are moving to become social entrepreneurs and co-op owners, it has evolved. 

All of our prevailing institutions have failed the people in one way or another. The Churches abuse children, Corporations kill the planet for money, Governments are selling out to the 1%, and Unions are often corrupt boys clubs. With all that being said: there are many millions of people of faith doing good for others in the name of their gods, there are Corporations using their capital to invest in the new green economy, there are Governments that are actually Democratic and doing what is in the best interest of the people, and there are Unions that are getting a good deal for their members, the company and the environment. We must not throw the baby out with the bath water. We must not allow ourselves to get stuck in political silos with horse blinders on. 

Both the left and the right have failed people. We need to move forward in a new way. That does not mean for those of us on the "left" that we walk away from our values. 

History has proven that those with power will do what they can to take all they can. If the early 90's showed us that Communism was a failed path, then certainly Bush and the banks have shown us that American "capitalism" is too. 

The real issues of Environment, Sustainability, Oil, War, Greed, will be best tackled with as many possible working together. We will need to be adaptive and compromising. We will need to reach consensus where we can. However, we need to stay strong in our values of social justice, equity, fairness, and democracy. 

History folds in and out on it's self, recreating the context and the frame in which we look at the world. Today my glasses are orange.