Most of us have no idea what we really want out of politics. Fuming with outrage, we vent our emotions into the digital void. The cathartic moment evaporates, and we’re left with the sinking feeling that managed national decline is the best the “visionaries” we voted into office can muster. America has become a case study in political nihilism. More specifically, we suffer from politics without a point.
Watching House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy read “Green Eggs and Ham” in protest of cancel culture perfectly captures our present political moment. “Green Eggs and Ham” wasn’t ever in danger of being removed from publication. McCarthy didn’t read from one of the six Dr. Seuss books pulled from publication because they do, in fact, contain imagery that’s dated and offensive.
So why would he do it? Reading a non-offensive kid’s book isn’t exactly a big political flex. Was he trying to pressure a private publisher to keep distributing books it found offensive? I can’t imagine McCarthy hoped to indirectly champion racist images in old books with limited popularity.
There was no point. It was meaningless political theater, but he did it because it’s what we crave.
The directionally loud voices on social media and cable news shape our political beliefs far more than the likes of James Madison, Ayn Rand, Karl Marx, or Saul Alinsky. In a culture programmed to receive, critical thinking atrophies. When Tucker Carlson scrunches up his face and gets bent out of shape at liberals doing liberal things, Republicans can’t get enough. Don Lemon blasts Trump supporters as being on the side of the Klu Klux Klan, and Democrats howl with glee.
Too often, the personalities on our screens tell us that we’re good, and those who disagree with us want to destroy America. We may not know the point of our politics, but the attached entertainment industry has amazing clarity: Put eyeballs on emotionally driven content and monetize it. As a result, they’ve built a political equivalent of the World Wrestling Federation.
When we confuse governing and entertainment, the boring, tedious art of statecraft takes a back seat to the perpetual campaign. Running for elected office is far more exciting than the underlying job. Candidates thrill us as stump entertainers. They crow about stopping the other side, play to our fears, and promote general platitudes devoid of specifics.
We boldly ignore the reality that American government is specifically designed to prevent one person from assuming power and doing whatever he or she wants. That’s a huge letdown for voters who envisioned an American utopia just an election away. We’re temporarily entertained and then gravely disappointed.
For a people who possess the awesome power of selecting political representation, we perpetually hate our own choices. In a typical year, more than two-thirds of Americans disapprove of the job Congress is doing.
A 2020 Pew Research Center poll conducted before the last presidential election found that 56% of President Joe Biden’s supporters voted for him “because he is not Trump.” That was it. No other stated reason for supporting Biden was even close. In the prior election, Trump was not Hillary Clinton.
“Not the other guy” is neither the point of politics nor a plan for America’s future.
Every politician who heads to Washington with a singular focus of combatting the other side is like a NASCAR driver trying to get around the track by only applying the brakes. It’s not enough to be against the other team. Political leaders identify problems, apply principles, develop solutions, and build majorities to pass them. That’s the basic job description for every legislator or government executive in America. Otherwise, they are little more than publicly-funded sound machines.
Ronald Reagan famously said, “Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.” Many of my friends dutifully recite those last four words without question. Few of them know the context of Reagan’s words or that he went on to say, “It’s not my intention to do away with government. It is rather to make it work.”
In a country with hundreds of millions of people, we need effective government to maintain life, liberty, and human flourishing. Government sets up the guardrails for a society that delicately balances both liberty and security. It isn’t meant to provide our every need, but it’s not inherently evil either. Building and shaping that government is the point of politics even if we’ve forgotten it. Right now, it’s difficult to imagine us having an appetite for governing more than entertainment, but it’s necessary. Thankfully, I know at least one politician willing to read us a children’s book about trying things we’re not sure we’ll like.
OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the NDP is caving to political pressure from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre when it comes to their stance on the consumer carbon price.
Trudeau says he believes Jagmeet Singh and the NDP care about the environment, but it’s “increasingly obvious” that they have “no idea” what to do about climate change.
On Thursday, Singh said the NDP is working on a plan that wouldn’t put the burden of fighting climate change on the backs of workers, but wouldn’t say if that plan would include a consumer carbon price.
Singh’s noncommittal position comes as the NDP tries to frame itself as a credible alternative to the Conservatives in the next federal election.
Poilievre responded to that by releasing a video, pointing out that the NDP has voted time and again in favour of the Liberals’ carbon price.
British Columbia Premier David Eby also changed his tune on Thursday, promising that a re-elected NDP government would scrap the long-standing carbon tax and shift the burden to “big polluters,” if the federal government dropped its requirements.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Simon Jolin-Barrette, minister responsible for consumer protection, has tabled a bill to force merchants to calculate tips based on the price before tax.
That means on a restaurant bill of $100, suggested tips would be calculated based on $100, not on $114.98 after provincial and federal sales taxes are added.
The bill would also increase the rebate offered to consumers when the price of an item at the cash register is higher than the shelf price, to $15 from $10.
And it would force grocery stores offering a discounted price for several items to clearly list the unit price as well.
Businesses would also have to indicate whether taxes will be added to the price of food products.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.
He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.
In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.
Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.
He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.
Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.
He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
