China and Democracy

Following my most recent posting, I was taken to task for what were considered to be negative comments on democracy. Actually, I was lamenting the present state of American democracy, which I believe is being undermined by the Bush administration and the defense industry. I also pointed out that democracies and republics are fragile and eventually crumble - read your history. A criticism of democracy always brings the rejoinders: what is your alternative? Would you prefer the Chinese system? The first is a valid question. Not so, the second.

Although a democracy is fragile and ephemeral (in historical terms), nothing better comes to mind. If we have it, we must defend it. Its chief weakness is the apathy and lack of awareness of the voting public which was a concern of America's Founding Fathers. Inspired leaders are called for, but too often we see pedagogues of little merit but wide appeal. Bullshit passes for wisdom and is swallowed as such. But we live in hopes. There are no qualifications for politicians, no exams to pass, but if there were it would not be democracy. Some say that an apathetic and ignorant public doesn't deserve freedom, but I can't subscribe to that.

The leaders of China, from Mao on, have proclaimed a democratic republic. The People's Republic. Yeah, really. It sounds like Orwell's 1984. The Communist state has morphed into a capitalist one. Capitalistic Communism, a really neat term. In this guise, they are threatening to take over the world with money while the Americans threaten to take it over with guns. Money or guns, who wins? In the longer term, I would wager on money. America's colossal debt is largely funded by China who could whipsaw the Western economy at will, but are too wise to do it just yet. They may be waiting for our side (Canadians are part of it) to collapse in the same way the Soviet Union collapsed from its own weight. They are patient. I often wonder if they are still smarting from the humiliations of western domination during the 19th and early 20th centuries. The Opium Wars where the Brits forced them to open the border to opium imports. The bloody suppression of the Boxer rebellion. Foreigners exempt from Chinese law. The famous sign, No Dogs or Chinese Allowed, widely believed but never documented, at the entrance to a Foreigners Only park. It must still rankle. How will we be treated when and if China becomes dominant in the world?

Meanwhile, repression is the order of the day. Beginning about 1978, the leadership under Deng Xiaoping started a series of political and economic reforms that led to a market economy and some political liberalization. But as we've seen with Gorbachev in Russia, attempting to liberalize a repressive regime is a slippery slope; Gorby got tossed and eventually they got Putin who is the new dictator. Russians like a strongman, we are told. The Chinese liberalization encouraged students and intellectuals to demand more. To avoid a long story, this eventually led to the massacre at Tiananmen Square in 1989. To the leaders, to give another inch would have meant losing it all. They would have had a tiger by the tail. A revolution, maybe.

Revolutions in the name of the people have a bad reputation. Conditions for the French underclass in 1789 were deplorable. They stormed the Bastille, the regime collapsed and anarchy took over. La Terreur 0f 1793 bathed Paris and other cities in blood. La Guillotine was indiscriminate, chopping the heads of even Robespierre, her champion, and Dr. Guillotin, her inventor. The revolution eventually coughed up Napoleon, who was not averse to mowing down rebels in the street with cannon (it's always the guy with a new idea who gets ahead) and who then went on to bathe all Europe in blood. The apprehension of the Chinese leadership is understandable.

Would I care to live under the Chinese autocracy? That was the question. The answer is no. Would I care to live in China after a revolution routed this regime? I'd run for my life.

The Little Tin God and the Ogre

I won't say "I couldn't believe it", because I know better. Here is George Bush strutting around the Middle East telling us that Iran is a nuclear threat and we'd better stop them before it's too late, barely two weeks after being informed by his own intelligence services that it's all malarkey. He and his cabal are panting for war on Iran in the same way they lusted for Iraq .

Bush and his mentor, Dick Cheney, obviously don't give a damn what anyone thinks because they've gotten away with it and we've all been had. They will complete their term of office unmolested and leave the mess to their successors. With the time they have left, they'll do what they can to leave a bigger mess. Maybe they're hoping for another Republican President to carry on the crusade. These two, along with their gang, known as the Project for the New American Century (think tank) make no bones about their plan to dominate the world and we can like it or lump it.

There's little hope that a Democratic President and Congress can really change the course of things. There are too many defense contracts and jobs at stake. The defense industry is spread over the landscape and most Congressmen are in its clutches. Profits are enormous and war is needed to keep the momentum. One commentator made the observation that as long as war is profitable, we'll have war.

Last night there was 2-hour documentary "Why We Fight". It used for its theme Eisenhower's warning in his farewell speech of the danger of the military-industrial complex, a term he originated. He knew what he was talking about. As to critics saying that the war is all about oil, the documentary pointed out that oil is needed to power the planes, tanks and other military machinery necessary to make war.

Democracies and republics only last so long. We tend to celebrate the ancient Greek - read Athenian - democracy, but it was brief. Few if any of the other Greek city-states were democratic and they were always at war with each other, let alone the Persians. (Some of the Greeks sided with the Persians.) The Roman republic was undermined by its military and America seems to be following suit.

It's interesting to note that the much revered Founding Fathers had little faith in democracy, considering it to be the rule of the rabble, who could be shamelessly manipulated. This "rabble" voted for Bush-Cheney. Twice.

Strange that I should have mentioned Maya Angelou in my last posting, because she was interviewed on CBC last night, speaking about her support of Hillary Clinton. I'm always prepared to be favourably inclined to someone I've never met or seen before, but as the interview went on, I found that I liked her less and less. She was so full of herself.

Poetry

I've never been big on poetry. We were fed some in high school; Wordsworth and his golden daffodils, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. The sailing ship becalmed in the doldrums, provisions and fresh water running out, "so many men so beautiful" (we snickered at that) dying of thirst. "Water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink." It told a story in language we could understand, so it was fine.

While in junior high school, by daughter brought home an assignment for which she asked my help. She had been asked to figure out the meaning of a poem. I read it. I read it again. Once again I read it. It was gobbledygook. I couldn't make out what the poet was trying to say; was it a heart yearning for love? was it a comment on the human condition? was it a spiritual aspiration of some kind? I was baffled and I wondered what sort of teacher would inflict this sort of ordeal on a junior grader. No wonder they turned to drugs.

I've never read Edna St. Vincent Millay or Emily Dickinson or Maya Angelou; I've seen a few lines of Walt Whitman and I wasn't inclined to go further. I have read some of Robert Service;
The Dangerous Dan McGrew, the lady that's known as Lou and The Cremation of Sam McGee.
Critics have referred to his verses as doggerel, and indeed they are not as sophisticated as the aesthetes would prefer. The working man's poet. His "doggerel", however, earned him a chateau in France, from where he could smirk at his critics. He never returned to the Yukon.

So there you have it; my take on poetry. But having said that, I recently came across a poem called Wandering Angus by Yeats. Here it is:

I went out to the hazelwood
Because a fire was in my head
Cut and peeled a hazel wand
And hooked a berry to a thread

And when white moths were on the wing
And moth-like stars were flickering out
I dropped the berry in a stream
And caught a little silver trout.

When I had laid it on the floor
And gone to blow the fire aflame
Something rustled on the floor
And someone called me by my name.

It had become a glimmering girl
With apple blossoms in her hair
Who called me by my name and ran
And vanished in the brightening air.

Though I am old with wandering
Through hollow lands and hilly lands
I will find out where she has gone
And kiss her lips and take her hand

And walk through long green dappled grass
And pluck till time and times are done
The silver apples of the moon
The golden apples of the sun.

That's rather pretty, don't you think. Judy Collins sang it.

Most Admired Man & Woman

Gallup conducts an annual poll asking people who they admire most. Open-ended question; name anyone you like. George Bush won for the sixth year running. I barfed. Hillary Clinton was the most admired woman. That I can take and keep my breakfast down.

Bush came in at 10%, Bill Clinton 8%, Gore 6%, Obama 5%. It's Bush's lowest number yet. America is finally waking up. The other three gentlemen I could have voted for.

Hillary 18%, Oprah 16%, Laura Bush 3%, Angelina Jolie 3%.

Altogether not too bad, considering. Democracy still has a fighting chance.

Is Life Sacred? - Part II

In the final paragraph of the previous article, I spoke of reverence for life. That is not necessarily a religious principle. Whether or not life is sacred, in the religious sense, is irrelevant. Life is valuable to living beings and should be revered for that reason alone. Atheists can do that as well as anyone.
An argument can be made that God doesn't consider life sacred, or even of great value. Consider natural tragedies like earthquakes, tsunamis, tornadoes and hurricanes, which claim many lives. Is God responsible? If you are religious, you are bound to say yes. He could at least have prevented the untold suffering and death, right? If man was created in His image, He could have made us less savage and warlike. No, I don't blame God. Even if He does exist, He has enough on His plate with the likes of us.

Canada Votes

I'm going to cast my ballot for an individual and a party that has no hope of winning. Why? Because my vote doesn't count no matter what. Cynical? Not at all. The only way my vote would count is if, without me it would be a tie. The odds of that happening are astronomical. So there is my tiny voice in the wilderness - peep, squeak. So why bother voting? I still have this quaint and antiquated notion of civic duty. Silly, isn't it? But it's the reason so many people don't vote.

Stephen Harper is a brilliant man. He knows that people vote the image and not the essence. They generally can't tell the difference, so they're led by the nose. The fireside chat, the sweater vest, children being taken to school. It makes me want to puke, but it sells. Politicians have always been great baby kissers and dog petters, but he leaves them in the dust.

Stéphane Dion is a highly intelligent man and very strong and resolute, he was the force behind the Clarity Bill, but I doubt his wisdom. His image sucks and the Conservatives are pounding away at it with great delight.

Jack Layton wants us to believe he can become Prime Minister, so I don't think too much of his intelligence or his wisdom. The NDP is yesterday, they have no policy to distinguish them from the others. Let's just thank them for Medicare and lay them to rest.

Gilles Duceppe is the joker in the deck. He impresses a good number of people of both languages. He is quick and incisive, he can cut like a knife. This quality is typical of so many Quebecois. Non-Conservatives hang their hopes on his ability to limit Tory gains in that province.

Liz May is going nowhere, but wouldn't it be a gas if she would upset Peter MacKay? She is a breath of fresh air and the environment needs a champion. Certainly it's not on Harper's agenda, and Dion's Green Shift will likely die in the womb.

So there you have it. It appears likely that we'll give Harper his majority and live to regret it.

Is Life Sacred?

What a question! The answer to most people would be obvious - of course it is! But is it really? Judging from the evidence, there isn't much support for the proposition. We see the cold-blooded murder of Benazir Bhutto, along with 30 or so bystanders, we see the 50 or more people who took refuge in a church in Kenya, only to be burnt alive by a mob, we see time and again school shootings and other outrages. We see Iraq.

This has not been a good start to the millennium. We've just witnessed the bloodiest century since the world began and some folks hoped the 21st would bring something better. Sorry, folks. It's not that humankind is any worse, it's just that Genghis Khan and Tamerlane didn't have cluster bombs, poison gas or nuclear weapons. We're still the same guys with better toys.

But back to the issue of the sacredness of life. Who's life are we talking about? During my upbringing I understood it to mean human life. The lives of cattle and sheep and hogs are not our concern; we eat them, otherwise we'd go hungry. Even vegetarians eat living things. We shoot elk and bear for sport. Lions eat antelope; insects eat some monkeys alive. It's a hard world out there; we're all trying to make a living.

If I were a moose, I might consider my life sacred. No doubt a prairie dog or a spider would think likewise. It all a depends on your point of view.

The sacredness of life comes into play when the subject of euthanasia comes up. Hard-core Christians are aghast at the idea. But how sacred is the life of a terminally ill person in great agony? The most liberal nation in this regard is Holland. Unfortunately, as I understand, there have been abuses of this liberality. Did all of those people really want to die; were they able to communicate their wishes? Were some inheritors in too much of a hurry? Was the care of the patient too much of a load? Serious questions indeed.

But in the final analysis, is life sacred? I see no evidence of it. The religious argument doesn't hold water. Having said that, however, does not excuse us for not having reverence for life. Any life; a person, a dog, a snake. When young I would step on bugs without thinking. Now if there is a spider in the house, I pick it up and put it out. I'll shoo a fly out the door rather than swat it, although I will swat when necessary. I confess to having no mercy for mosquitoes or black flies. Self defense. There are certain Buddhists who will take care not to harm earthworms when they dig up the soil. They believe that the worm may be the reincarnation of a family member. Not totally altruistic, maybe, but I applaud it nonetheless. We should all be as caring.