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Natives deserve same property rights as all Canadians
Friday, August 24th, 2012
9 August 2012
On reserves, land is owned by the Crown, which in turn permits First Nations to use it for their collective use. Houses typically are built and maintained by bands or bureaucrats — with no economic input from (or equity for) the occupants. It is an artificial, Soviet-style arrangement… this isn’t because Ottawa is nickel-and-diming Canada’s native reserves. Rather, it’s a function of the perverse economic incentives facing the natives who live in those homes.
Tags: economy, housing, ideology, Indigenous, poverty, rights, standard of living
Posted in Equality Policy Context | 1 Comment »
The triumph of ‘hard-headed socialism’ is destroying Canadian conservatism
Saturday, July 21st, 2012
Jul 17, 2012
Is there a name for a policy that combines fiscal responsibility with a thick safety net, including universal health care? It turns out Canadian writer Stephen Marche just found one: “Hardheaded socialism.”… Social programs and robust capitalism are not, as so many would have you believe, inherently opposed propositions. Both are required for meaningful national prosperity.”… It’s what works in developed post-industrial economies — both in Canada and Scandinavia
Tags: economy, ideology, standard of living, tax
Posted in Governance Debates | No Comments »
Barack Obama is right — wealth inequality is a threat to capitalism
Friday, January 27th, 2012
Jan 25, 2012
Income inequality in the United States now stands at its highest rate since the Great Depression… this fact usually is cast as a social justice issue, which is why too many conservatives snidely dismiss it. In fact, free market capitalists are the ones who should be most concerned about inequality. A mass market consumer economy cannot function when earners cluster at the poles: Poor people buy very little, and wealthy people spend only a small fraction of their income on retail goods and services.
Tags: economy, ideology, standard of living
Posted in Equality Debates | No Comments »
The Tories’ tough-on-crime agenda is intellectually bankrupt
Wednesday, October 19th, 2011
Oct 19, 2011
The Canadian government’s web site points visitors to several Justice Department studies on mandatory minimum sentences for drug crimes. None strongly support the idea that Bill C-10 will reduce drug use or improve public safety. “The evidence points the other way… the bill represents… a complete divorce between policy-making that affects millions of people, and real-life research and experiences…
Tags: budget, corrections, crime prevention, ideology, rights
Posted in Child & Family Debates | 1 Comment »
Bad science: Global-warming deniers are a liability to the conservative cause
Saturday, July 17th, 2010
July 15, 2010
… too many of us treat science as subjective — something we customize to reduce cognitive dissonance between what we think and how we live. In the case of global warming, this dissonance is especially traumatic for many conservatives, because they have based their whole worldview on the idea that unfettered capitalism — and the asphalt-paved, gas-guzzling consumer culture it has spawned — is synonymous with both personal fulfillment and human advancement. The global-warming hypothesis challenges that fundamental dogma, perhaps fatally.
Tags: economy, globalization, ideology
Posted in Education Debates | 1 Comment »
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