Dear Mr. Prime Minister

My second entry in the Dear Mr series....

I voted for you Justin.  I, and so many other people, want to believe that you will be the man that we need you to be.  This country, this world, needs people of good will to fight the good fight.  And as much as I do believe in grass roots solutions, the world needs the people on top to do the right thing. Obama inspired hope that the world would be a better place....sadly that train wreck of a country is happier being partisan and obstructionist instead of doing the work they were sent to do. We don't have that issue here in Canada...so you have no one to blame if you do falter.  Do the right thing and if you do falter, fess up and make it right.  Now I must say, so far things have been going well.  Feminism, refugees, economy, environment (a little).  Keep it up and you can be Prime Minister forever in my book.

I have said on many occasions in my life, smarter people then me have already come up with the answers, we just need to listen.  Writers, artists, song writers, poets and so on have collectively shown us the way...so why do we still falter.  Fear I say.  A woman I met not long ago once told me that people let fear rule their lives.  Fear of change, fear of the unknown, fear of failing. The people that stand up and say, I don't care what this will cost me, this is the right thing to do, this is more important than "me" are the ones that make the differences in the world.  Imagine if we had a leader who pulled a Rosa Parks and said, no more, we aren't selling arms to Saudi Arabia until we can see changes to the human condition in its population.  Or perhaps we can simply look in our own backyard and address the whole issue around poverty.  It's not just money...it's everything.  Is it hard?Yep.  Is it going to be universally applauded?  Nope.  So....do the right thing.

When Norway discovered oil off it's shores it did something smart.  It didn't throw a never ending party of low taxes and out of control spending at the prospect of rivers of money flowing into its coffers.  It set up a legacy fund.  Like a pension fund that grows and invests in the country as a whole. The money from this fund will outlast the oil they are pulling up.  They have high taxes.  They also have a country that is happy, healthy, literate and is always in the top spots when it comes to rankings of the best country in the world.  Leaders decided that.  Alberta take notice please....sorry, too late.

Neil Peart and Pye Dubois wrote "and the men who hold high places, must be the ones to start, to mould a new reality, closer to the heart". We have to choose what we want our country, our world to be.  Once we decide that, getting there will be less onerous.  Having a goal is half the fight I think.

Instead of subsidizing oil and drugs, how about farmers?  Why can I buy pop cheaper than milk? Processed foods cheaper than whole fresh food?  And you wonder why we have such issues around obesity and diabetes....fuck. There is a better way, we just need to be strong enough to go that way.

See, I told you my brain works funny.

Enjoy the day

Ciao
D