The headline on Brian McLeod’s column, “Trump’s re-election key to preventing Canada’s collapse” (St. Albert Gazette, Commentary, March 23), is followed by statements such as “Socialists in the U.S. will not only destroy their country, they will destroy ours as well (and probably many others around the world).”
Really! Mr. McLeod?
What makes you an authority on the subject and from where did you get your information and insight? Which bubble of social media friends have you had in-depth discussions with and who are the twits besides President Twit Trump himself, who help reinforce your gospel of fear, division and a culture mesmerized by power, position, privilege and possession?
Where is the accounting and detailed analysis of your storm of numbers used in your predictions and forecasts? Did they come from the political almanac, used by Trump and his doublespeak political spin doctors, who dispute the reality of climate change and like his buddy Putin are intent in threatening, if not destroying, the basic values inherent in a legitimate democracy?
This precious social invention called democracy has evolved by the struggle and sacrifice of millions of innocent victims, hoping to preserve and build a society, based on human rights, respecting the dignity of each human being and empowering its members to live in peace with themselves and others.
Your analysis and solution, Mr. McLeod, to our national and global problems, I believe, are simply political rhetoric and a threat, more than any hint of adding to the collective wisdom and answers desperately needed for positive democratic evolution and hope for a more sane, equitable and peaceful world.
The problem is not socialism and Mr. Trump is not the solution. He is a symptom of a much deeper problem, which is inherent in our form of capitalistic democracy. Self-interest, greed and fear, are weaknesses in our powerful and complex market system. Even former prime minister Stephen Harper, in his recent book, Right Here Right Now, makes this admission.
Many of the ideas and values imbedded in an enlightened social democracy, have and will, hopefully, continue to provide some answers in establishing a better balance and harmony between liberty and equity.
Capitalistic democracy, by exercising a strong sense of social responsibility rather than submitting to its weaknesses, has great capacity to also contribute to the collective good.
Let us be open and embrace what is beneficial and good in each rather than using the spin of political rhetoric and damnation to prevent the evolution of creative solutions for a better more hopeful future.
Wilf Borgstede, St. Albert
