OT: Canadian Federal Election

[Saxon]

Interesting comment on the Greens not being as left wing as the NDP. To a certain extent it is true, but much of the Green agenda is based on forcing the economy to take a certain path, which they see as better than others. At a fundamental level, they are saying that people should not be free to do what they like economically and that the Greens know better. This is the same as the NDP, who know better than you what your money should be spent on.

While the Greens have become much more sophisticated with their economic arguments and are nowhere near as one dimensional as many people suspect, they are not a party for freedom, particularly economic freedom.

Interestingly, the most successful Green party, that in Germany, has had some marketing problems. They can not use the images that traditional provide a resonance to the German culture. The historic images used in Germany in the 20’s and 30’s became tied up to the Nazi party! The Nazi’s had, believe it or not, a strong links to the ideas and people who promoted early environmental thought and were very concerned with where the resources to run their society would come from. The idea of Lebensraum, “living room” for the Aryan race to flourish was a mix of racism, nationalism, concern over population density and the fear of dwindling resources. Many of the ideas of environmentalism can, and have, mixed with those of social control and the limiting of individual freedom.

If I had my old hard drive here, I would post a link to an essay I did on this back in grad school. It would have all the references to back this up, as it does sound outlandish. That was half the reason I researched it, I did not believe my prof who told me about it!

In any case, let me say that I prefer parties which argue for individual freedom, particularly financial freedom, where we are the least free. Tax Freedom Day in Canada was only Last week…