Two posts in two days!
Obviously, feeling detached (previous post) has much to do with both a) feeling powerless in affecting change, and b) doubts about whether the change that you could affect is worth fighting for.
I was thinking about whether I would be any different if I were an American, instead of a Canadian, in terms of how I looked at how I could personally affect government, and in doing so, I realized that "fighting" for social issues oddly seems like a more tangible goal than fighting for spending restraint, tax cuts and stuff like that - at least for a lot of people.
Let me explain.
Firstly, fighting for "social issues" in America is actually possible. In Canada, it is not. There is such an atmosphere up here that villainizes social conservatives that it really makes me quite sad. Media and political elites hold Canadian social conservatives in such contempt that it is hard to imagine how it's possible for them to feel included in the process at all. Here's an interesting side point: if you're really bored, pathetic and geeky like me, read Hansard (transcripts from Parliament) from the 35th Canadian Parliament. The 35th Parliament was when Reform was first elected by sweeping through much of the west. Before Question Period is the Member Statement time period, and looking through the Reform Member Statements was absolutely stunning. Such open, vocal and unapologetic social conservatism - it's quite a sight to see. You wouldn't see anything like it today, and sadly, I'm afraid we never will again.
And on top of all of that, I'm not even much of a social conservative. I'm not particularly offended by gay marriage and I'm often on the other side of "socially conservative" positions, except with one significant issue: abortion, a subject that I've always opposed in almost all circumstances. It feels weird for me to say that, as if Canadians aren't supposed to publicly state their opposition to abortion. In America, it seems perfectly acceptable to state one's opposition to abortion, in Canada it seems very risky.
This sort of deals with current events... (i.e. the nomination of not one, but two people who are question marks on the issue of whether the American constitution guarantees a right to the privacy of an abortion), but many Americans can somewhat realistically expect to overturn legalized, nationalized, abortion-on-demand by electing reliably conservative Presidents and Senators.
In Canada, the prospect of placing limits on abortion is such a taboo topic that people who have it as a priority can only realistically feel nothing but hopeless despair. I think we're one of only 6 countries in the world that has no restrictions on abortion until the point of viability. And the sad thing is that a majority of Canadians, while labelling themselves as pro-choice only feel that abortion should be available in "some" but not "all" cases. This is sad because the popular will of the people will never materialize itself into concrete action because there are so many utterly shameless demagogues out there who will do whatever they can to confuse the issue to voters in order to secure the smallest of political advantages.
This is why so many Canadians feel detached, and I'm only referring mostly to social conservatives, a group of which I do not consider myself a member.
It seems pretty impossible to affect change in Canada, at least on the national level.
I was thinking about whether I would be any different if I were an American, instead of a Canadian, in terms of how I looked at how I could personally affect government, and in doing so, I realized that "fighting" for social issues oddly seems like a more tangible goal than fighting for spending restraint, tax cuts and stuff like that - at least for a lot of people.
Let me explain.
Firstly, fighting for "social issues" in America is actually possible. In Canada, it is not. There is such an atmosphere up here that villainizes social conservatives that it really makes me quite sad. Media and political elites hold Canadian social conservatives in such contempt that it is hard to imagine how it's possible for them to feel included in the process at all. Here's an interesting side point: if you're really bored, pathetic and geeky like me, read Hansard (transcripts from Parliament) from the 35th Canadian Parliament. The 35th Parliament was when Reform was first elected by sweeping through much of the west. Before Question Period is the Member Statement time period, and looking through the Reform Member Statements was absolutely stunning. Such open, vocal and unapologetic social conservatism - it's quite a sight to see. You wouldn't see anything like it today, and sadly, I'm afraid we never will again.
And on top of all of that, I'm not even much of a social conservative. I'm not particularly offended by gay marriage and I'm often on the other side of "socially conservative" positions, except with one significant issue: abortion, a subject that I've always opposed in almost all circumstances. It feels weird for me to say that, as if Canadians aren't supposed to publicly state their opposition to abortion. In America, it seems perfectly acceptable to state one's opposition to abortion, in Canada it seems very risky.
This sort of deals with current events... (i.e. the nomination of not one, but two people who are question marks on the issue of whether the American constitution guarantees a right to the privacy of an abortion), but many Americans can somewhat realistically expect to overturn legalized, nationalized, abortion-on-demand by electing reliably conservative Presidents and Senators.
In Canada, the prospect of placing limits on abortion is such a taboo topic that people who have it as a priority can only realistically feel nothing but hopeless despair. I think we're one of only 6 countries in the world that has no restrictions on abortion until the point of viability. And the sad thing is that a majority of Canadians, while labelling themselves as pro-choice only feel that abortion should be available in "some" but not "all" cases. This is sad because the popular will of the people will never materialize itself into concrete action because there are so many utterly shameless demagogues out there who will do whatever they can to confuse the issue to voters in order to secure the smallest of political advantages.
This is why so many Canadians feel detached, and I'm only referring mostly to social conservatives, a group of which I do not consider myself a member.
It seems pretty impossible to affect change in Canada, at least on the national level.
posted by Japnaam Singh at
7:42 PM
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