If only we had real leadership

                My somewhat scattered election essay.

                      I am with a small pack, a pack who are engaged yet unable to attach to any political party.

                      Why?

                      Well for me it comes down to this, what I would really like to hear from my political “leader” is a very simple message.

                      Something like this;

                      I will provide honest, open competent decision making in a manner that is willing to acknowledge and adopt other perspectives in the process. My goal is to empower the nation to be whatever it is it needs to be to tackle the challenges we face in order to thrive and improve the way we live together and in harmony with the planet on which we reside.

                     Pretty simple.

                     You can quit reading there for that is the essence of the rest of this teeny tiny essay.

                     And yet

                     I would love to hear some more stuff discussed with respect to our society, things that no political party has the courage to address, and yet if left as-is are divisive by their very being.

                     Forget the senate, there is one very big elephant in the Canadian living room and it is the provincial hierarchy? This archaic and inefficient strata of government creates division among us, it separates us.

                    We have 13 separate license plates so we can snub out of province drivers as if their being from another Province somehow makes an acceptable target for our anger and frustration.

                    We have 13 different healthcare delivery systems.

                    We have more than 25 different publicly funded education systems, and yet a Nurse from one Province cannot simply go work in another. nor a lawyer, nor a Doctor, nor pretty much any other scholastically accredited Professional.

                   We have 13 different ways to deliver alcohol.

                   We have 13 different ways to buy and pay for prescription drugs.

                   We have 13 different building codes.

                   We have 13 different Investment Securities regulation mandates

                   We have 13 different environmental policies for any number of environmental issues from Clean Air to Clean Water, to Oil spill clean up to forestry and on and on and on.

                  Germany has 80 million and does all that with one system for each, we have 35 million and do it with 13.

                  Provincialism is divisive, and inefficient, and yet no one wants to discuss it.

                  They all say “it can’t be done”

                  Tell that to the 6 Martian landers that are currently on Mars, 2 of which are still in operation…

 

       Humans are incredible and full of ingenuity when we are encouraged and allowed to be so.

                 We can change but we require leadership to do so.

                 Which brings me to the next great divisive relic in our society. This one is one that is so scary to touch, people have been killed for even saying what I am about to say.

                 Religion is a lifestyle choice, nothing more, and as such deserves no special accommodation.

                 Ironically this essay will go on to address our current array of potential leaders inability to create  positive emotional movement.

                 Religion is a very emotional issue.

                 Unfortunately, Religions can be very divisive, not by themselves, but through their followers.

                 I heard it all through my growing up, and never understood why as I was not raised religious.

                 Protestants vs Catholics, Catholics vs Jews, Jews vs Muslims, Muslims vs Hindi, and round and round it goes.

                 Our country needs emotional leadership, that can make us UNITED!

                 To do that we have to undo the some of the elements of separation that are man-made.

                 How can we begin to feel like being united when we have so much telling us we are not the same?

                 We are different in many ways quite naturally, through race, gender, sexual orientation, intellect, and our physicality, we don’t need more ways.

                 We don’t need different provinces to separate us, and different religions to separate us.

               

                All the issues on the current “platforms” are obvious issues that any level headed governing body should be able to identify and address.

               The economy, healthcare, national security, the environment, first nations issues, taxation, the military, foreign policies, trade negotiations, they are all easy to identify issues.

              What about the economy?

              Why are we so willing to surrender jobs in industries we have been leaders in, all in the name of less expensive goods?

              Why are our governments unwilling to talk about the truth that belies this? Which is; our greed.

              What about the healthcare?

              Why are we so unfit? Why are our hospitals unable to keep up?

              Why are our governments unwilling to talk about the truth that belies this? Which is; how difficult it is to practice healthy living.

              Why do they not address this?

              What about national security?

              Why are we so afraid?

              Why are our governments unwilling to talk about the truth that belies this?

              Because they think we cannot understand it, or perhaps because they like that they have something they can scare us into making choices we otherwise might not make without having to truly explain the truth about the real risks around our national security?

              What about the environment

              Why is there so much resistance to living in a more careful and responsible manner?

              Because our “leaders” like to stay with the status-quo, they are not willing to do the work to change.

              They are quite simply either, incompetent, or lazy in addressing this issue.

              The Green Party is willing but at 5% of the vote they are but a small voice in a very noisy crowd.

              What about our First nations peoples?

              Why are they still struggling, and suffering?

              Why are we so indifferent?

             Why are our governments unwilling to talk about the truth that belies this, which is it we have been brainwashed to believe it isn’t happening.

              Because they clearly don’t know what to do.

              What about taxation?

              Why are we so adverse to paying taxes to ensure we get to live in a safe and well managed society?

              We live on the backs of many generations who gave their effort, their taxes and their lives so we can live as we do today and yet our leadership hopefuls are unable to convey the truth that we all must ever be paying it forward.

              That is our truth, we all are living off those who came before, that is how we have all the incredible infrastructure that we all enjoy.

              What about the military?

              Why is so hard to understand what the role should be with respect to serving the best interests of Canada?

              Why do we have to suck up to the USA and its agenda simply because we live next door?

              Why is our government so afraid of retaliation, we can have a different opinion and remain allies, besides we hold water, we hold oil, we have the land, we are not to be dismissed.

              Our leadership hopefuls are afraid because whoever stands up for Canada’s sovereign right to choose when and where our military will be deployed will have to first enlighten the population that to do so may involve some short term turbulence, and none of the “leaders” is capable of presenting that truth in a manner that will encourage us all to embrace the notion and support the choice because they don’t know how.

              What about foreign policy?

              Why is it so hard to practice diplomacy with all our fellow inhabitants of the planet, and still protect ourselves?

              Why do our leaders allow themselves to be lead around by the powerful money lenders of the world?

              Because it is easier than addressing the injustices and having to make new alliances.

              And this may be so, but why can they not say it is so, why do they treat us like children who are incapable of handling the truth?

              Because they are afraid.

              And what about Trade negotiations?

              Why is so hard to address Canada’s best interests and protect us in the process, and why all the secrecy?

              Again because they like secrecy as it allows them to treat us like children and let us hear only what they want us to hear.

              All these questions are questions that no single leader can answer in a manner that satisfies my perspective.

              Our leaders show themselves to be afraid of some issues, incompetent on addressing others, and who wants leaders like that?

 

             They don’t get it.

              Humans are emotional, first and foremost, we all need NEED to feel safe and secure, and we need to feel loved, and we all NEED to be able to share our love, and yet our “leaders” rarely if ever speak to these primal human traits in a positive and encouraging manner. (I know at this point the ones who are stuck in their heads will be ROTFL at the guy who “wants the politicians to practice peace and love”)

             And yet that is precisely what we need.

            We need emotional encouragement so we not only excel as a people but so we can turn around the current paradigm of selfish narcissism we are encouraged to embrace in the name of feeding the status-quo and replace it with gratitude, compassion, and kindness as our first thoughts.

            Our Gross National Happiness index is the real measure of a healthy society and I feel our leaders have been failing us for way too long.

            

             Many people knock Pierre Elliot Trudeau, and rightly so to some degree, however he and his predecessor, Lester B Pearson, each did something to the Canadian psyche that has not been seen on the same scale since. They made us proud to be Canadian, and that is a BIG THING. It allowed us to blossom, to try, to believe we are worth the effort and to aim to be better.

              I was there, I was a young boy in the late 50’s and early 60’s and I can tell you that we were a mild mannered meek nation of Canadians, and yet we were quietly being magnificent, and those two leaders tapped into that truth in a way that ignited the entire population. In particular Trudeau harnessed that new found feeling of Canadian pride initiated by Pearson and took it up a notch where he made it something of an honour to be a Canadian. He embraced this country in ways that touched the very souls of our nation and we embraced our Canadianism as a result.

              I am not suggesting we are better than any other humans, or any other nations, but I am reminded that before that time we did not feel like we were even as good as others.

             Pearson gave us a Flag and a Nobel prize for Peace and we rallied to that call.

             We were very happy to be that.

             Trudeau showed us we could stand among our peers and not feel less than. He made it cool to be a Canadian.

             That is all I ask from my politician, LEAD US, INSPIRE US, ENCOURAGE US, and UNITE US, help us to BE MAGNIFICENT in all the ways each and every one of us can be, one people under one flag, pulling together for one planet.

              We don’t need you solve our problems, they are obvious and WE CAN DO THAT… but we need LEADERSHIP!

              Let the people crunch out the details.

 

              Or something like that…. Ba-da-dum  May harmony and courage find its way into your heart and give you comfort and inspiration to be your best.