Caught In A Landslide, No Escape From Reality

Less than 6 hours after going to bed here I am to write for you, such dedication. And why am I voluntarily short on my sleep? Well, at least in part because I stayed up for the election results. This morning, I'm sorry, but I have to write on politics. Yes. I try not to do it very often, but as the memes say, if you are bored with the realities of the world please go look at cat photos instead, with my blessing.

.......and let the grown-ups consider the fact that it actually matters what goes on in government, because it affects all of us. No matter how little real power we have, as humble plebs, last night showed at least what happens when enough people say "enough of that".

Firstly I want to say that while I'm very happy that Stephen Harper has gone, and while I am no conservative*, this isn't a party issue. I'm not sure it ever is, and I hate party politics anyway, but this wasn't a Liberal victory, it was a Conservative defeat. I'm sure you'll see many others say that, but I'm up early so I get in first.

I am not a raving Trudeau fan. I shall be watching him very carefully, and if he steps out of line I will be one of the first people complaining. I don't trust him any more than any of the others. All politicians have the potential to tell lies, get involved in corruption, do stupid things, and pander to the elite rather than the masses. I don't like it, I wish it were otherwise, but I'm too old to believe in honest politicians. We just hope that some are better than others.

At least it's not quite as bad in Canada, as our neighbours to the south, whose politicians are simply bought by billionaires. We should be grateful for small mercies. And I'll just briefly say I hope they get Bernie in power. That would be very interesting to see.

But Harper had to go, he was doing too much damage, he was not representing the people he served, and when you forget why you are a leader in that way, your time is up. He forgot. He lost the plot, as they say. He started out ineffective and gradually became worse. Canada can run itself with very little input from leaders, it's set up that way. He started tinkering under the hood and it stopped running so well.

Then recently we saw his disdain for the environment, minorities, the vulnerable in general, and we said no. Stop that.

There are no guarantees that Trudeau will be any better, but we had to take that chance. We have to hope that his ego, his desire to be seen to do well, will help him try, at least. He knows, surely, that he is under the spotlight, he has to fill his father's shoes, apart from anything else.

I don't think it's an easy job, running a country. It's like being a mother, only there are millions of children, and they never sleep. And they squabble among themselves, and it's impossible to please them all. Therefore, as a mother, here is my advice on how to run a country.

First, you need a distant goal. The objective is that you are trying to raise a bunch of healthy, successful, and good kids. Even though you'll get no thanks for it until way into the future, you must set in place things now that are going to help later on. Just as a mother helps in every possible way to teach her children lifeskills, a government must invest in education, including kindergarten and even daycare where need be. Just as a mother tries to keep her kids healthy, a government must invest in public health, in all its manifestations from meat inspectors to keeping prices sensible on pharmaceuticals. Just as a mother tries to keep her kids out of mischief, a government must have laws that make sense and actually prevent crime as well as a system that deals with it effectively when things go wrong.

If you have a solid basis, like a functional home, the kids - the people - will thrive. When you see a government actively thwarting the efforts of the ordinary people to "get on well" you know something has gone awry. The government are forgetting what they are there to do. When you are caring for a very large family, you can't mollycoddle a few favourites and let the others wander out into traffic. You have to set things up so that everyone is taken care of, for the things that matter.

At the same time kids need freedom to develop into functional adults. They don't need helicopter parents. While you need a certain amount of discipline, you don't help things by watching over and interfering in everything they do. It's a balance.

And the nitty gritty, you don't let your kids go out in the cold without a coat on. You may not be wealthy parents, but you get your priorities straight, and you don't have a bunch of kids with no shoes just so one of the others can have designer shoes. You share it out. Why would you do anything else? If they don't share among themselves, you step in.

That's what you are there for. Don't forget. I'll be watching you Mr Trudeau.

And now, because it's my blog, and can say whatever I damn well please.....


Ner ner ner ner ner, we have the CUTEST leader ON THE PLANET. Bar none.

Meh, I know, but there it is.


*I have no party affiliation. I'm broadly socialist in ideals, occasionally conservative in crime and punishment, but essentially anarchistic, although I don't think you lot are ready to take care of yourselves. You still need parental government. And you get what you need.