Life as a Contrarian

Freedom of Informed Choice by each individual is our best bulwark against tyranny.

One Being A Contrarian.

This song, Señor, has set my mood to express how I feel about life these days. The mood is coloured by hues of melancholy, satisfaction, dread and optimism as you will see as you read on.

I think about the past and the good times I’ve had, then wonder where it all went over the most recent few years.

I feel a sense of helplessness. I don’t know how get back those good times. I don’t know who to turn to or in whom to place my trust.

I reflect on how I got here. I know that ‘the Contrarian’ has always been within me like a shadow, but somewhat amazed at how much it is has stepped out of the shadows and speaks through my writing.

Skepticism breeds more skepticism …

I have certainly had my share of reasons to be skeptical throughout my seventy years, and it began early.

As a boy, I recall listening in disbelief to religious instructions based on the Bible - a book written centuries ago by men who wrote for their times and circumstances, not mine. I wondered what qualified my Catholic priests and Jesuit private school teachers to advise me about life when their lessons were inevitably drawn from stories found in that ancient book.

I still recall the following hand-written words I found inside my second-hand Latin textbook: “Latin killed the Romans and now it’s killing me”. This is how I felt about the Bible.

As a young man, I heard many politicians make grand promises only for them to fade into history never to be seen or heard again. I realized early that politics is the ideal profession for a con man.

For proof that ‘the con’ has worked very well, one only needs to trace the history of growth in the size, cost, and scope of authority that we have witnessed at every level of government over decades. This growth has amounted to iron walls of legislation that has relentlessly closed in on our liberties with each act of parliament passed and every enforcement regulation that followed it.

As a father, I stopped standing for the national anthem. It offers nice-sounding sentiments which totally misrepresents our reality. I had learned from life experience that the choices and actions taken by the state and my fellow citizens were putting the future of my children at increasing risk.

In fact, my motivation for running as a Less Government Libertarian candidate in 9 elections was my attempt as a concerned dad and husband to put up a political defence for my family against creeping (and creepy) statism.

As a pending grandfather, I sense my time is running out to protect my family politically. For me, the Canadian flag 🇨🇦 symbolizes the growing oppression of innocent and defenceless citizens - a Goliath that I cannot tame much less defeat.

While seeing the 🇨🇦 continues to trigger my distrust and skepticism of the state, it also reminds me of the futility of my efforts to Advocate for Less Government. Hence, my sense of helplessness continues unabated.

As a citizen of our alleged “Canadian democracy”, I distrust our voters even more than the people that they elect. The blame belongs to the “electoral majority” who, election after election, have awarded power to the corrupt and/or incompetent people who have enacted the policies and built the institutions that are responsible for this growing oppression.

Yes, my skepticism is broad, deeply felt and (possibly) indelibly-infused into my Life Lens.

It seems that I am destined to remain a Contrarian. In some ways, it has served me well. I have raised two children who are excellent critical thinkers and are established in successful careers and engaged in great relationships.

It has also empowered me to exercise my Freedom of Informed Choice throughout a mostly productive, happy and prosperous lifetime.

It is my hope that my kids and grandkids will continue to be at least as skeptical as I have been. The life of a perennial Contrarian - the use of critical thinking skills and analysis of unfiltered/uncensored information - seems to be the only real line of defence against at least some of the inevitable threats coming their way. Individual Freedom (to make informed choices) and Personal Responsibility (to take ownership of those choices) are surely two of the best principles to live by.