The illusion of “Democracy”

I am currently a candidate in my 10th election. This time, it's Kitchener Centre. At this writing, there are 18 registered candidates for this bye-election.

Did the citizens elect a flake?

Laura Mae Lindo, the elected NDP MPP, resigned five months after winning the confidence and trust of the majority of electors in Kitchener Centre last year.

A record 18 candidates are now registered as her potential replacement.

Every election is an illusion of democracy.

Elections pretend to offer “a voice” to all eligible citizens who wish to participate in public decision-making concerning their economic and social governance. This form of “participatory democracy” is supposed to make each individual feel that his or her needs and priorities will be considered, and met, by public institutions.

By some miracle, their elected representative will be expected to read the minds of every citizen to know what each individual wants and to translate millions of these mind-reading exercises to conjure public policies that will meet everyone’s expectations.

What most individual voters want is personal.

The needs and priorities of each person always depends on a unique and complex mix of variables which can exert a direct impact on their personal lives and circumstances.

In the ideal case, most people want enough money to fulfill their life obligations comfortably and to have enough left over to the enjoy the finer things that life has to offer.

Money is stored energy.

A while ago, I listened to a podcast conversation between Robert Breedlove and Michael Saylor on the “What is money?” show. It was a philosophical analysis of the true nature and purpose of money. Their statement “money is stored energy” has ricocheted off the walls of my mind many times since.

When we acquire money through work or otherwise, we have choices as to what to do with it. Spend it immediately. Save it for future needs. Donate it to a “worthy cause”. Hoard it in a shoebox like Scrooge. Fly over the countryside in a Cessna and dump it out for the lucky people below who catch the bills as the fall from the sky.

You may laugh at the last suggestion, but isn’t this an apt metaphor for what our wise government leaders sometimes do? And how many modern day Scrooges do you know compared to the many people who live by debt, not savings?

The smallest minority is your self.

Russian philosopher Ayn Rand famously said:

Remember that the smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights, cannot claim to be defenders of minorities.

Laura Mae Lindo was the NDP MPP who vacated her elected responsibility to represent all Kitchener residents in Ontario’s Legislated Assembly.

In July, she accepted another government position. Laura surmised that it better serves her personal needs and priorities rather than fulfilling her commitment to the “minority rights” of the hundreds of thousands of individuals she had campaigned to represent. Hypocrisy, or is she just living “by the law of the jungle”?

So, why do I bother?

I have been asked many times why I spend my time and energy to be an election candidate. Certainly there is no money in it (an newly-elected MPP has a starting salary of over $110,000 plus a generous expense account) because the odds against any small party candidate (such as a Libertarian) of winning an election are easily 500:1.

My motives are not money or power.

Instead, I try to defend and protect myself, and those people I care about, from losing personal energy and sovereignty from people who wish to take it. This statement required an explanation.

I have described THE HONEY POT in previous essays. It contains MONEY - our stored energy,  and LEGISLATION - the instruments of force used to control us. These two elements are the source of all political power.

Elections are about gaining access to the Honey Pot.

Tax Law, and other forms of legislation, authorize elected and non-elected public officials to take stored energy (your financial assets) from all Canadians by various means orchestrated by all levels of government.

In 1961, 38% of that stored energy was taken from the average family’s annual income. Today, it's 53% and climbing.

The majority of our citizens voted for more of their stored energy to be taken from themselves and their fellow citizens in order to pay for “free stuff”, compliments of government largesse.

It's very expensive “free stuff” mind you, but it's always “free” until you receive your tax bill. Many Canadians will borrow to pay this bill while adding to ever-mounting levels of personal and unsustainable debt.

The balance sheet.

Not everyone pays for this “free stuff” in equal amounts. People at the lower end of the economic ladder are generally the net beneficiaries of this public generousity. Those at the higher rungs are the “most generous Canadians” whether they want to be or not.

The big winners.

The balance sheet doesn’t identify the hundreds of thousands of government workers and their partnering professionals (lawyers, accountants, etcetera) who also dip into the Honey Pot their share of the booty. At least 80% goes to the “big winners” and less than 20% to the intended beneficiaries. That’s a pretty steep brokerage fee that can only be attained by the force of legislation.

My soapbox.

As an Advocate for Less Governent since 1979, I use every election as a soapbox from which to ask voters one simple question.

What would your life be like if the collective size, cost and scope of authority of all government operations were to be reduced by 10%? 25%? 50%? 80%?

A follow-up set of questions include?

What would you do with the money (stored energy) you saved if your overall rate of remissions to government was reduced to 25% from 53%?

Currently, you have only one monopoly choice for many services that are provided solely by the public institutions (example: government schools) funded through taxation and public debt. How would you like it if comparable services to be available to you and provided by your choice from several service providers who will compete for your money as retailers do today?

The contrast is stark.

All of the other parties are doing exactly the opposite of what Libertarians want. If you listen to their speaches and read their campaign literature, it becomes clear that the major political parties want to suck more energy from your life force to give it to themselves and their “partners in crime”.

It's not enough that the province enforces over 400,000 regulations (”rules of control over you”). It’s also not enough that governments already take 53+% of your annual earnings to pay for keeping you in line with their dictates. They want more!? Can you believe it?

Yet, one of the 14 election candidates will win Kitchener Centre bye-election and gain access to the Honey Pot - to get more HONEY POT POWER which is what they actually want. Rather pathetic when you think of elections in those terms, isn’t it?

One the road again with Scott

Scott Marshall, Campaign Manager par excellence for the Ontario Libertarian Party, and I hit the road last Sunday to collect the 25 nomination signatures from eligible electors within the Kitchener Centre riding. These are required by Elections Ontarion for each candidate to qualify for this by-law election.

It was a long day and we met many good people. Scott and I also had ‘barrels of fun’ punctuated by a good meeting with Cathy, the very pleasant Returning Officer who granted my Certificate of Nomimation.

The photo, taken by Cathy, shows Scott and I at the Elections Ontario Voting office in downtown Kitchener.

No Grammy

Below are the lyrics of “Libertarian men” which I wrote for our day together. We sang and recorded one take of the song in the parking lot in late afternoon as we prepared our victory trip home. It won’t win a Grammy but it is sure to elicicit a chuckle or two from the chuckleheads (an endearing term for LTN supporters) who will visit our web site at www.libertarians.on.ca.

Libertarian men (”echo” repeat by 2^nd singer)

On the road again (echo repeat)

Gonna get some votes (echo repeat)

Just as soon as we can (echo repeat)

Libertarian men

(harmonica interlude)

We’re Libertarian men (echo repeat)

Here we go again (echo repeat)

Trying to get them votes (echo repeat)

Since we don’t know when (echo repeat)

We’re Libertarian men

(harmonica finale)