Michael James is a widely published journalist who lives in New York. He posted the following on Facebook and I think it is worth repeating.
Be the People…
Democracy is at risk… everwhere!
PhD historian Giordano Nanne wrote that his main focus was “comparative colonialism in the 19th-century British Empire; and more specifically, settler-colonialism in Australia.” Nanni’s focus may have shifted because he created Juice Media, the group responsible for “Honest Government Ads.”…
Threats to North American democracy are real and unprecedented
I have observed and studied politics for more than sixty years. I have never been as worried about the fragility of democracy and I am convinced it is at risk in Canada in 2025 and beyond. Our school curricula should pay close attention to what sustains government by the people. We should carefully consider the following actions…
Sabotage, not reform
Poilievre has been heartily endorsed by Elon Musk and Trump promoter Megyn Kelly. To people on the far-right, those are meaningful endorsements. To humane conservatives, centrists, and progressives, any government person in the Trump/Musk orbit is frightening. New York Times essayist David Wallace-Wells wrote about the Trump/Musk administration, but his words suggest Canada’s future if Pierre Poilivre is elected Prime Minister.
Sign the Pledge for Canada
Previous generations have fought to protect our democracy and made sacrifices to build the Canada we inherited. This now our time.
Terrifying descent into authoritarianism, racism, and cruelty
Rather than speaking truth to power, legacy media have become stenographers with amnesia, hiding the truth through the use of anodyne adjectives, convoluted phrasing and buried leads. In some cases, they have been explicitly muzzled by media owners.
Economic and cultural sanctions needed
I won’t post again on the platform owned by today’s leading promoter of fascism. Only psychopaths aim to revive a movement responsible for a conflict that left more than 50 million dead, mostly non-combatant civilians. Over a billion people were negatively affected by World War II…
Democracy, taken for granted and less valued
While BC voters moved to the right in October, the voting pattern was not substantially different than in earlier times. The same cannot be said for the USA. More than half of American voters supported a misogynist, racist, criminal for President. The simplest explanations for the November result are a disdain for democracy and a willingness to embrace totalitarianism. Canada is experiencing its own shift to the far-right…
Post election comments
The NDP holds one more seat in the Legislature than the BC Conservatives. David Eby will continue as Premier by depending on support from Rob Botterall and Jeremy Valeriote, two elected Green Party members. With all ballot boxes counted, material change is unlikely when the final count is released on October 26. John Rustad’s right-wing coalition will form the Official Opposition but it is an unstable group. Newly elected centre-right Conservatives are wary of far-right radicals and will fight them for control of the party.
A Step Too Far
A Facebook post by Gordon F.D. Wilson, the BC Liberal leader who was pushed aside in 1993 by big business interests who wished to install the more submissive Gordon Campbell. Wilson’s comments are so good they are worth repeating here.
Democracy is threatened
Elections in the next few months will alter governments in three Canadian provinces, as well as in Washington DC, and in all states of the USA. Justin Trudeau will call a Canadian federal election in less than a year. Journalism we can trust is vital at all times, especially in late 2024 and early 2025. Voters can find endless information from many sources, but we need accurate and thorough information to make informed decisions. Democracy cannot survive if voters are uninformed or misinformed.
Rage farming
J.D. Blackburn is focused on Pierre Poilievre, but lies and demagoguery are part of the right-wing, conservative playbook. With less than ten weeks before BC’s provincial election, expect to see numerous examples on display. I quote from Blackburn’s article…
“You won’t have to vote anymore”
Dan Rather was a star of the news business for years before he left CBS. From the 1980s to the mid-2000s, Peter Jennings, Tom Brokaw, and Dan Rather were the “Big Three” of TV news in the USA. At the peak, about one in five Americans watched them. Today, about one in twenty Americans see flagship news shows of the legacy networks…
Collapse of Social Cohesion and Crisis of Trust and Truth
Frank Graves says we live in an era which sees a crisis of both trust and truth… Disinformation is polarizing our society in ways that we have never seen… But Graves is optimistic about the future. find it difficult to share his hopefulness and confidence in the future.
The fragile state of democracy in 2024
In a 2022 virtual appearance at the University of Toronto, Canadian Margaret Atwood talked about the future of democracy. She warned about the “deliberate creation of chaos” by those who prefer authoritarianism. Financial Times editor Roula Khalaf said Atwood’s appearance was part of an editorial initiative to provide expert commentary about the fragile state of democracy in 2024.
Denial is a defence mechanism…
A 2022 article in Psychology Today is worth attention. The author is the late Charles M. Johnston, MD, psychiatrist, author, and futurist…
Bonhoeffer on stupidity
Much has been written about Bonhoeffer and many English translations of his works are available. One that caught my eye was on stupidity. It seems appropriate to review with a vile man likely to be the Republican candidate for President of the USA. If Trump wins, it may be the final Presidential election but that seems not to bother at least 40 percent of the electorate. That same political performer inspired right-wing extremists in Canada and with Stephen Harper’s direction, helped a major political party disavow rational conservatism and common sense.
Constructive anarchism
Yale political scientist and anthropologist James C. Scott, author of the whimsical 2013 book Two Cheers for Anarchism, suggested pursuit of justice demands occasional insubordination and disregard for rules. He described “…an anarchist sensibility that celebrates the local knowledge, common sense, and creativity of ordinary people. The result is a kind of handbook on constructive anarchism that challenges us to radically reconsider the value of hierarchy in public and private life, from schools and workplaces to retirement homes and government itself.”
Defending democracy through public engagement
In my years of political observation, I have come to realize that elected officials individually have little opportunity to influence public policy. At senior levels of government, power has concentrated in the offices of the first minister. In local governments and school boards, In local governments and school boards, power is held largely by professional administrators. Public input is tolerated by the power holders, but not welcomed…
Woke is not a slur
President Biden vetoed a measure that would have blocked fiduciary retirement fund managers from considering climate change, corporate governance and other factors when making pension investments…
in-sights.ca 
Blair Fix at _Economics from the Top Down_ also wrote two very good papers on the converion of housing into…