I am Constantly Reminded of Why I Really Do Not Like Politics

Believe it or not I really do not like politics. For me it is like a drug, an addiction that I have tried to kick in the past without success. I guess if you are going to be addicted to something politics is better than drugs or alcohol but it still sucks sometimes.

The latest reminder is the PM going on holidays on Truth and Reconciliation Day and the media making a big deal of it. It is patently stupid on their part on so many levels but it further indicates how far modern politics has fallen. There was a time when politics meant something, big issues were debated and decided upon, and the bullshit that we have been seeing for the past few days never saw the light of day. Now politics is all about the bullshit and the important issues are ignored.

This is not just a thing with the current PM. We see it everywhere and no political figure is spared the BS. Andrew Scheer was a terrible candidate for PM and the policy ideas that his Conservatives produced for the 2019 election were retrograde in the extreme. However, what did we talk about ad nauseum during that election? The fact he did not actually pass a real estate licencing exam and the fact he was an American citizen. Both were interesting things to know about him and I would say they were relatively important as well but not dominate-two-weeks-of-the-damned-election-campaign important. They should have been one or two day stories, tops and then we should have been talking about policy again.

This past Federal election was not as bad as previous ones. At least when Mr. O'Toole tripped up it was because he could not settle on a final policy decision around gun control. That deserved all of the attention it received because it was a policy issue, which is what election campaigns should be about. Still, that discussion of policy never ventured past the superficial and there was still way more attention being paid to process than policy for the election campaign to be useful.

I am old enough to have seen when politics was different and that is when I became hooked on it. At that time politics was actually kind of fun. I could have thoughtful, in depth debates with people who disagreed with me without them calling me names or questioning my intelligence, the legitimacy of my birth or suggesting I was a man lacking certain man parts. Hell, I could have these debates and then have a beer with my debating partner afterwards, where we would piss each other off talking about hockey. Those days are gone and we are left with the cesspool that we all now swim in.

Of course, our society is the worst for it and I believe that eventually this debasement of politics will have some real world impacts that will surprise alot of people when it finally happens and/or put all of us in a pile of shit from which we will not be able to escape. (Runaway climate change, I am looking in your direction.)

The blame for this can be put squarely on the shoulders of those who would govern us and those that attach themselves to them. As has happened many times before throughout history the ruling class (politicians, journalists, the influential wealthy, the bureaucracy) have lost touch with those that they would rule with the predictable results. They are all so engaged in one big, incestuous circle jerk that they cannot see what is actually happening in the world around them. They have absolutely failed in their duty to those that they claim they have the right to govern. History has shown that such a situation cannot last indefinitely. In the extreme cases that ruling class is completely swept away, sometimes losing everything including their heads. 

This time will not be any different. I have written in this space many times about the triple challenges of automation, climate change and the rise of China and how they are going to change the world we live in now. If politics were being done right our rulers would be tackling these issues with more gusto, energy and thought than they are now. But politics is not being done right so when the impacts of these changes really begin to be felt by ordinary people they are going to find that their rulers are completely unequipped to help them deal with them and those ordinary people might be convinced that they need to replace the ruling class. (Note this does not mean a change in government but a change in how we are governed.)

I may live long enough to see a revolution in the West. I believe there is a very good chance one will happen, or at least begin, in my lifetime. Maybe when that happens politics will become fun again.