Editor:
Given that we “all” live in a wealthy “civilized” democracy … its members “deserve” our bounty. Yet 25 per cent of B.C.’s children live near poverty, in poverty, or in abject poverty.
Many … retired seniors … disabled … sick … working poor … under-employed… unemployed … homeless … “live” in dire straits.
Are we so poor … that our social security, social equality, blessings of liberty, “justice for all” … fulfillment in a “real” democracy … are “undeserved” entitlements?
Mike de Jong decrees (Sept. 14, 2012) … “we” must take “entitlement” cuts “immediately.” “Elite” rulers (0.01 to one per cent) feel “entitled” to live “privileged” lives … befitting their own perceived “superiority.” “Fiscal austerity” … or the top one to plus-nine per cent … “owning” 50 per cent of the global wealth?
Pursuit of “power” and “profit” de-regulated? Destroying environment to provide “life giving jobs” for the 90 per cent? “Entitled” rulers motivated to end poverty and/or servitude?
Can advantaged “elite” … coexist with “real” democracy? Combined chests of money and power “forcing” domination … cannot solve “conflicts of interests” or controversial assault on environment.
Arctic melt … extreme weather … evidence … or ideology? Shell Oil leads Arctic plunder.
Private pursuit of power and profit is pathological (five Ps). Democratic action is vital. Yet … do we “each” know what even the existing degree of democracy requires from “each” of us collectively?
It is vital to move fast for “real” democracy?
Earnestly consider Lisa Bland, Stephanie Bird, Krista Liebe, Kim Slater, Cecil Grinder, Marilyn Baptiste, Richard Case, Andrew Weaver, Bill Rees, Marc Jaccard, David Suzuki, Maude Barlow, Ramsey Hart, Jeffery Sachs, Tim Jackson, Joseph Stiglitz, Fatih Birol, Nicholas Stern, James Hansen, Bill McKibben, Lester Brown, Dalai Lama, Aung San Suu Kyi, Mohamad Gandhi, and “alike” others.
Unless “each” member of our community … has a safe place of “belonging” … as an equal member to “all” others … with liberty and justice for “all” ... “we” will not survive. Time is short.
Only a society of “equals” can build a “civilized” democracy.
Herb Nakada
Williams Lake