tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7884128379999766348.post4606009026005659247..comments2024-03-28T15:34:01.401-04:00Comments on Politics and its Discontents: Guest Post: An Incompatible MarriageLornehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15741324981120408977noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7884128379999766348.post-44876887336077428472016-12-23T09:50:13.914-05:002016-12-23T09:50:13.914-05:00Again, Marie, nothing is more potent than an infor...Again, Marie, nothing is more potent than an informed populace. Unfortunately, the "getting and spending" our culture is obsessed with leaves little time for deep learning and reflection.Lornehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15741324981120408977noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7884128379999766348.post-54671081382273329642016-12-23T09:18:37.244-05:002016-12-23T09:18:37.244-05:00The idea of a new narrative is what Charles Taylor...The idea of a new narrative is what Charles Taylor's on about when he talks about "social imaginaries." We can't get to where we want to go with a mindset that focuses on our own individual accumulations. We have to remember that we once cared about solidarity (like <a href="http://apuffofabsurdity.blogspot.ca/2016/07/solidarity-over-competition.html" rel="nofollow">Chomsky</a> talked about earlier this year) and community. We can help through essays and stories and more detailed explanations of history - the personal stories of working together. But if somehow we could get popular media on board...Marie Snyderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13872774009526266579noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7884128379999766348.post-2810471056797408052016-12-22T20:34:07.818-05:002016-12-22T20:34:07.818-05:00Thanks, Frank, for your comments. You clearly beli...Thanks, Frank, for your comments. You clearly believe that citizens have a responsibility in this entire dynamic. If Pamela would like to respond further, I will leave it to her.Lornehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15741324981120408977noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7884128379999766348.post-29579638877184721222016-12-22T18:44:10.234-05:002016-12-22T18:44:10.234-05:00Pamela MacNeil's analysis is spot on but it is...Pamela MacNeil's analysis is spot on but it is MacNeil's final line that grabbed me when she says,"our time is running out." In light of what's happening globally, it sounds almost hopeful suggesting a possibility of us wakening before we slip over the precipice. I hold no such hope. As long as we continue to buy the same goods from pitchmen from different parties only to find them the same damaged goods we bought before, we will just sink deeper into the stinking morass. The Mound of Sound citing Waddock and Saul has correctly pinpointed what is needed but system change is not achievable as long as voters continue to only believe what they want to hear without challenging and questioning and demanding more from those they elect before they vote. Excellent article and comments. Thanks. Frank A. Pelaschukhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06351942301350409395noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7884128379999766348.post-79243437476289715382016-12-22T17:24:46.454-05:002016-12-22T17:24:46.454-05:00In fairness, Lorne, Canadians won't "figh...In fairness, Lorne, Canadians won't "fight to take their country back" until they're offered a reason to take that risk. They need that narrative, that system to replace the neoliberal order. Progressivism took hold through a narrative of hope, a vision of a new way for society to be ordered. Without a persuasive and compelling option, the only fighting we'll see is shadow boxing. Sufficient "citizen passion and engagement" cannot emerge from a vacuum.The Mound of Soundhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09023839743772372922noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7884128379999766348.post-62094310922004496322016-12-22T14:58:17.021-05:002016-12-22T14:58:17.021-05:00Thanks for your always-informed analysis, Mound. Y...Thanks for your always-informed analysis, Mound. Your suggestions are spot on, but I am haunted by the question Pamela poses at the end of her piece: "Will Canadians fight to take their country back, or will they do nothing?" I know that I must sound like a broken record (er, sorry, broken disc? corrupted file?) but without sufficient citizen passion and engagement, where are we left?Lornehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15741324981120408977noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7884128379999766348.post-70798011720743002532016-12-22T12:44:05.064-05:002016-12-22T12:44:05.064-05:00Recall the recent study that concluded you can hav...Recall the recent study that concluded you can have global integration (globalism), state sovereignty or democracy but you cannot have all three. At least one must be sacrificed. This is the resultant scourge of neoliberalism. The outcome is what Pamela references.<br /><br />The question, however, isn't the affliction but how we resolve it. What are we going to do? How shall we get out from under this divisive and corrosive condition?<br /><br />As Sandra Waddock wrote recently in the Christian Science Monitor what we need isn't regime change but system change. This, in essence, is what Ralston Saul wrote a decade ago in "The End of Globalism."<br /><br />As Waddock contends, we have to champion a new narrative:<br /><br />"Tomorrow's narrative needs to be framed very differently from today's. It needs to recognize that economies are part of societies and nature but not the only important thing. A new narrative should frame the purpose of business very differently, taking different stakeholders and the natural environment into account. It could also provide a more reasonable and effective basis for resolving the key crises of our time, such as the warming planet and the growing gap between rich and poor.<br /><br />"Dignity and well-being can be enhanced, for instance, by emphasizing job creation and stability, fair wages and fair markets, rather than financial wealth, efficiency and growth. Measures like the Genuine Progress Indicator would incorporate well-being and individual dignity into the measure of an economy, as opposed to merely its activity, making it a great substitute for GDP or GNP."<br /><br />The engine warning light already glows red for the global economy. It's not going to last especially as climate change impacts increase, both in severity and in number, in the coming years.<br /><br />We must develop a narrative that is based on clearly stated principles that are defensible and we have to stand by those principles and champion their adoption.<br /><br />We know neoliberalism sucks. We know the environmental, political and social tolls it exacts. Realizing that, however, without more is pointless. If we can't offer something persuasively better and a map of how we can get there, we'll just stay right where we are today.<br />The Mound of Soundhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09023839743772372922noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7884128379999766348.post-77076097075368105962016-12-22T10:28:50.063-05:002016-12-22T10:28:50.063-05:00Let us hope that the progressive side is suitably ...Let us hope that the progressive side is suitably equipped to parry a barrage of empty ideological thrusts, Owen.Lornehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15741324981120408977noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7884128379999766348.post-15471380364680850522016-12-22T10:25:44.167-05:002016-12-22T10:25:44.167-05:00Pam's exactly right, Lorne. What lies ahead is...Pam's exactly right, Lorne. What lies ahead is a battle of ideas.Owen Grayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06464860078574618579noreply@blogger.com