The Gift of Freedom

The greatest gift you can give someone on Christmas (or the other 364 days of the year) is the gift of freedom. Be the best ambassador for freedom you can be all year long. Spread the word that the answer to the world’s problems is freedom, charitable giving and personal responsibility… not government.

As my gift to you this year, I’d like to share with you the two men who have influenced my thinking more than any other. The two greatest gifts to freedom that the world has ever seen. Unfortunately, both are no longer with us.

Harry Browne:

Harry ran for US president in 1996 and again in 2000. He introduced me to libertarianism when a few years ago, I heard on old radio interview with him done in 1996 with Art Bell… I`ve been hooked ever since. He single headedly turned me into a libertarian. In the last few years of his life, Harry had a weekly radio show of his own. Blow is a link to one of those shows titled ``Selling Libertarian Ideas`` . I have listened to this episode several times and I`m sure I will again in the future.

Note: It`s a 5 part youtube video, I couldn`t find a version that was uninterrupted.

Milton Friedman:

I`ve only discovered him more recently but he had lots of great things to say. Every time I search youtube, I find more fascinating material. Here is my favourite video I`ve discovered so far:

Drug Protection Laws Are Not An Accomplishment

The Harper Government has given itself it’s own report card. Last week they released their 2013  legislative accomplishments. They seem to be proud that a record 40 bills have reached royal accent calling it the “most productive year on record”. Think of it a different way…   40 of your freedoms were taken away this year. Government gets bigger and it’s touted as an accomplishment? I find this very disturbing… and so should you. I thought conservative political parties were supposed to reduce the size of government. That’s another topic for another day, and I have lots to say on that subject for sure.

Among their ‘accomplishments’ are laws that protect Canadians from unsafe drugs. Many people see this as a good thing. And it CAN be for sure. However, rarely is it thought of the other way: What about lives that are lost because drugs which could be beneficial, are kept off the market? How will you ever see the lives lost because of that? Many years later when the drug IS approved, the only people who might object to that will be dead.  But they may still be alive if they had access to that drug.

For years, Beta Blockers were kept off the market for fear that they would be deadly. Upon approval, it was mentioned that this drug would save up to 10,000 lives a year. Since it took 10 years to approve, does this mean the Government killed 100,000 people? It’s in health Canada’s best interest to always be late on approval; they are not going to want the bad publicity from potentially killing thousands of people.

But it’s also in a drug company’s best interest to make sure the drugs they are putting on the market are safe. If a drug turns out to be unsafe, then that drug company deserves anything that comes it’s way… bankruptcy, class action lawsuits whatever. In a free and open market, potential for bad publicity keeps people honest. A free and unregulated market can police itself if given the chance.

Who died and put Health Canada in charge?

What Is A "Monopoly" Anyway?

Today, the competition bureau announced it’s going to look into whether or not google has too much dominance in the marketplace. The word monopoly wasn't actually used in this story but a Google run ‘Monopoly’ is really what is being investigated here.

Too often, people throw around the term “Monopoly” way too often. Progressives who use this word should really look up the definition in the dictionary. The definition of monopoly as given in the dictionary is:

Monopoly
: complete control of the entire supply of goods or of a service in a certain area or market
: a large company that has a monopoly
: complete ownership or control of something

There you have it, a monopoly is when one company or organization has 100% control over a marketplace or industry. However, monopoly is often used in the same sentence as ‘Walmart’ (or insert a big name company here). So if Walmart has a monopoly, then does Target not exist? Does Sears not exist? What about the dollar store? All of these companies are competitors for Walmart. Walmart may be the most successful and have the biggest share of the competitive pie, but by no means do they have a monopoly.

The fact is, monopolies almost never occur in the private sector. Monopolies occur almost exclusively with government. Like here in Ontario with the LCBO. If you want to buy wine or spirits, there is only one game in town, and that game is run by the government. Not only does the government have a monopoly on alcohol, they have outlawed all competition. THAT is a true monopoly. I find it funny that progressives who talk about these (fake) monopolies seem to be ok with government controlling almost every aspect of their lives. Let me tell you something, government will mess with you 100 times more often than any big corporation will.

I find it hilarious when a monopoly (government) investigates what it perceives to be a stranglehold on the marketplace. So much for Harper’s “Free Market Approach” huh?

Ontario "Healthy Schools Strategy" Has Failed

Well, surprise... surprise. Ontario high school students aren't eating at their local cafeteria because the food sucks.

Three years ago, the province of Ontario put in place what they called the "Healthy Schools Strategy". Chocolate bars, burgers and soft drinks were outlawed and replaced with apples, rice and corn in high school cafeteria's.

Ontario's annual Auditor General report was released this week and found in part, sales at High school cafeteria's are down by as much as 45% and vending machine sales are down by as much as 85%. This making it very difficult for Ontario to reach their goal to reduce childhood obesity by 20% in 5 years.

When the government forces people to do things they don't want to do, they go elsewhere. High taxes on tobacco products have forced people to go underground to get their fix. Many people cross boarder shop because prices are cheaper... even when you factor in the price of gas (which is also significantly cheaper in the US). In this case, high school students are ditching their local cafeteria's for fast food options across the street.

When I was in high school, I rarely ate at the cafeteria as I usually brought my lunch from home. Healthy eating starts at home, not with the government telling us what we can and can't eat.

The auditor general's report also found that many cafeteria's aren't even following the healthy eating plan either. Of the three schools tested for this report, some entree's had two times the amount of allowable fat and one dish had 40% more sodium than was supposed to be called for.

In addition to the undesirable options, many students say their local cafeteria menu prices are just too high and the fast food dollar menu across the street is more appealing. I bet the next step is banning fast food establishments near high schools. Sorry... I don't want to give the government bureaucrats any ideas.

The Reform Act: Two Sides To Every Bill

There has been a lot of talk lately about The Reform Act. Last week, Conservative MP Michael Chong put forth a motion which would give more power to your local MP. It sounds like a good idea on the surface but as with most things in life, there are two sides to every story.

There are things about this bill that are good, like allowing a party's local riding association to pick their own candidate. Too many times these days, your local election candidate could be a parachute candidate. The leader of the party will pick high profile candidates and put them in ridings they know they can win, even if that riding is 1000's of miles away from where that person lives. I personally believe that a candidate should live in the riding they are running in. This is an issue that people care about, the 'where do you live' question seems to come up in most debates I watch. The whole parachute thing is dishonest politics, this is exactly how Green Party leader Elizabeth May got elected in 2011.

So there is definitely some good stuff in this bill. But... has anybody seen they part where only 15% of caucus MP's can overthrow their leader?  This concerns me. Take the Liberals for example, the federal Liberals have 36 seats in the house of commons right now. So this would mean if 5 MP's don't like him, he can be kicked out? 81, 000 card carrying liberals voted for Justin Tredeau earlier this year at the leadership convention and if only 5 people don't like him, those vote will be null and void?

But wait there's more, party MP's will have the power to choose the replacement. And this vote occurs in secret and with only 50% + 1 of the vote, a new leader is voted in. And it's not mandatory that every MP attends the meeting either. So in theory, a new leader could be voted in by literally a hand full of people as well. And this is supposed to be more democratic? If you are a card carrying member of a political party, you should think twice about supporting this bill.

There are two sides to every story. Whenever you hear about a piece of legislation, especially something you think is going to benefit the voting public, ask yourself this question: What is in it for the person (or people) proposing the bill? Everything government does by its very nature is political. Politicians will rarely do anything that benefits the people, everything they do is ultimately for their own political gain. In this case, it's a few back bench MP's who don't see eye to eye with Stephen Harper and they want to overthrow him. Sure, Michael Chong says this won't come into effect until the next election in 2015 but he could very well get re-elected and then.. It's on.

Be very wary of this proposal, It's gives more power to government bureaucrats and less power to you, the voting public. Remember, ask yourself: What's in it for me? The answer... nothing.

Inside The Mind of a Liberal

I can't sleep tonight so here I am wondering aimlessly around the interwebs. I came across an interesting article speculating why the Occupy Wall Street movement never really took off. There are a number of reasons for this but this article suggests that the 'left' hasn't embraced the OWS movement the way the 'right' has taken to the tea party movement. The article reads in part:

"Liberals tend to think they’re each unique in their ideology, while conservatives and moderates have the perception that most other people think the way they do."

It's an intresting article... take a look:

Link: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/12/02/study-suggests-occupy-wall-street-movement-undone-by-liberals-need-to-feel-unique 

"Yeild To The Bus" Has Become An Abuse Of Power

So picture this,

I'm driving to work this morning, I'm in the right hand lane getting ready to cross an intersection. Just after the intersection is a guy pulled over by police in the right hand lane. I signal and make my move to the left hand lane to avoid the blockage... so does a city bus right in front of me.

In the area I live in, city busses have a yield sign on the back of them. The purpose of this is to allow city busses to merge back into traffic after making a stop. I have never really agreed with this exemption but abide by the law and willingly let the bus in when in that situation. My beef is when this yield law is abused. I can't tell you how many times I've seen a bus bend the rules just like I saw this morning.

A city bus made a lane change in the middle of an intersection. This is another example of Government employees making rules for the general public but abiding by a different set of rules for themselves.  Politicians have their own private jets. In some cases, send their kids to a special school system provided by government. Government bureaucrats don't live in the real world. Do you think Air Force 1 has ever experienced a delay? Has the Prime Minister ever had to check his baggage or gone through a naked body scanner? Of course not.

In this case the bottom line is, you can't change lanes in an intersection. It's unfair that city transit vehicles can get away with something that I would get a ticket for. And I don't care that it's in the name of saving the planet... which is ultimately what this is all about.

The Tables Are Starting to Turn

As I predicted last week, it appears that the tables are starting to turn, Barack Obama's approval rating has now fallen to 37%.

You had to scroll way down to find it but an interesting story today from the Associated Press stating that Barack Obama's approval rating in the wake of the the partial government shut down is now at 37%. You heard almost nothing about it in the news media today.

I am of the belief that many of the media outlets don't know how bias they actually are. You see, a majority of news here in Canada and the United States comes from only a small handful of news sources... "The Wire" as it were. If the wire services (which are few to begin with) aren't reporting certain stories, you won't hear it on a majority of major media outlets.

I give you an example of that happening with today's story about Obama's low approval rating.

Below, is an excerpt (you can read the whole story here) from the story as it appeard on AP's Website:

Most Americans disapprove of the way Obama is handling his job, the poll suggests, with 53 percent unhappy with his performance and 37 percent approving of it. Congress is scraping rock bottom, with a ghastly approval rating of 5 percent.

Indeed, anyone making headlines in the dispute has earned poor marks for his or her trouble, whether it's Democrat Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader, or Republican John Boehner, the House speaker, both with a favorability rating of 18 percent.

Now I present you with the wire version of the same story... in it's entirety:

WASHINGTON - A new poll says Americans are holding Republicans primarily responsible for the partial government shutdown.
    
The Associated Press-GfK survey finds plenty of disdain to go around as people size up the federal impasse. Most now disapprove of the way President Barack Obama is handling his job. And Congress' approval rating is a perilous 5 per cent.

    Overall, Republicans are taking the bigger hit in public opinion. In the poll, 63 per cent say Republicans deserve a lot of the blame. About half say Obama or the Democrats in Congress are largely responsible.

    The poll finds that the tea party is a significant influence among Republicans as well as a source of division. Forty-one per cent of Republicans identified themselves as tea party supporters and they want Republican leaders in Congress to stand firm.

 It should be noted that Obama's 37% approval rating is now lower than George W. Bush's approval rating at the same duration in his presidency. And at it's worst, Bush's approval rating was 33% and that was with the media crapping on him all the time. Unfortunately, the media is still in Obama's corner. Hopefully they wake up soon and start doing some actual reporting... like a CBS reporter did yesterday.

Glenn Beck - "The Forgotten Man"

As mentioned below, I've been listening to a lot of American radio talk shows the last couple weeks. In particular, I've been finding Glenn Beck very entertaining and informative.

On Today's show, he had a great commentary called "The Forgotten Man". It's a commentary about political power. How politicians put themselves ahead of the voting public and how they use vulnerable citizens to make that happen. It's 11 minutes long but well worth the listen... Link Below:

Link:
Glenn Beck - The Forgotten Man

US Government Shut Down... The Media Hype

I've been fascinated with this story of the partial shut down of the American government. So naturally, I've been consuming a lot of American Media this week.

The parks department is getting by far the most attention with this story. Most of the national parks are shut down, Yellowstone, Lake Mead, The St. Louis Arch, Mount Rushmore and many more. The progressives will tell you that the US economy is losing millions of dollars while these tourist attractions are shut down. Here we go again with this assumption that government creates jobs. This idea that Idea that if people aren't spending their money at the St. Louis Arch that it won't be spent at all. Totally bogus, they'll spend it at a restaurant they'll spend it at another attraction that isn't shut down, they'll buy a T-shirt or a hat. The really sad thing is that things that don't even cost money have barricades around them. There was that story this week about the WWII veterans who were denied the opportunity to see the national war memorial.

This whole thing is happening because the Republicans want to repeal Obama care. Perhaps they have a point, how many people are actually signing up for Obamacare? The Numbers are shocking. The healthcare.gov website crashed on Tuesday at people were "clamouring" to sign up for Obamacare. However the 5 million reported visitors were in reality 5 million page views. The actual number of unique visitors was 645 000. In addition, the sign up rate is horrible. Some reports say less that 1% of those who don't have insurance have signed up. The state of Connecticut signed up 373 people this week. 373 people in the whole state! And not one person in Louisiana or California have signed up yet.

So how long will this continue? My guess is that by October 10th, the two sides will be getting closer to a resolution. Right now, the Democrats have no interest in ending the shut down. Think about it, you have all the media outlets out there blaming the Republicans for this shut down. The longer this continues  the better it is for the Democrats. However, there will be a point next week where the tables will turn as people realize that the Democrats aren't willing to negotiate.

I've totally lost all respect for CNN after how they have been covering this story this week.They grill every Republican who comes on but give Democrats a nice easy interview. CNN had a single mother on the other morning who was being inconvenienced because her government food program for her and her baby was stopped by the shut down. It was all pity on me... I was waiting for CNN to ask why is she having children when she's not financially stable? Of course it never happened. This woman is going to continue to have kids and live on the government dole fore the next 15 years.

That's the problem, government is too big and is spending to much money on things that aren't essential. We are learning this week on who is essential and who isn't. Unfortunately, things will soon return to normal and non essential workers will will become essential again and we'll be right back where we started. That is until it's time to raise the debt ceiling again later this month.

Ron Paul Talks to Jay Leno

I'm not the biggest fan of Jay Leno, I won't get into the reasons here. But I love Ron Paul. So I put aside my dislike for Jay for 9 minutes and 5 seconds to watch Ron Paul's appearance on the Tonight show last week.

It's clear that Leno doesn't agree with everything Ron stands for but to Leno's credit, Gave Ron Paul a good interview. Check it out:

▶ Ron Paul - Tonight Show with Jay Leno 9/26/13 - Video Dailymotion

Harper 'Tour Tax' Leaves Much To Be Desired

Thanks to CTV News the other night who brought attention to a recent story that I somehow missed. A new 'tour tax' recently brought in by the Conservative government will make it tougher for international music acts to play gigs across the boarder. And when two of my passions in life combine (Music and Politics), I just have to comment.

Now, the Harper government isn't specifically targeting musicians but rather this an unintended side effect (a political paradox if you will) of recent changes to to the immigration act here in Canada. More specifically, the temporary foreign workers law which came into effect in August. But as I mentioned in my first post, new Government initiatives often have unintended consequences in other areas.

This new law doesn't target the bands themselves but, rather the venues they play in. Under the new law, international acts coming into Canada are considered temporary foreign workers. Interestingly, larger international acts are exempt from this fee of $275 per band member. Why?... because big acts play larger venues who's primary source of revenue is music. So a small bar owner who brings in a band a couple nights a week would have to pay up because music is not their main source of revenue.

Some are in favour of these changes saying that this will give Canadian bands a first crack at gigs. What these people don't seem to understand is that Canadian acts are already getting gigs by opening for bigger international acts. In fact, this is the most common way that Canadian Indie bands gain exposure, by opening for a larger international band that people came to the bar to see. Yeah, Canadian bands may be getting a few more gigs but what good is it if no one is there to see you play?

Most of the music I listen to is on smaller labels, what passes as popular music these days baffles me. So naturally, I'm a bit upset as this. This law targets the small business owner, the small bands that are barely getting by. Yet, the big international multi-millionaire acts like Taylor Swift and One Direction get a free pass... doesn't seem to make sense does it?

How to Truly Give Sun News "Equal Treatment"

I must admit, to full disclosure that… I like the Sun News Network. Yes, the presentation is a bit cookie cutter but they bring angles on news stories the other networks don’t cover and occasionally they even break unique stories of their own.

But the SNN has been making news itself lately with word that they have asked the CRTC for mandatory coverage on your cable dial. What is “mandatory Coverage”? Basically, it’s the requirement that that cable/satellite providers must provide certain channels on their lineup. Currently about 20 channels enjoy this perk. With it, comes a low easy to find spot on the dial, signal substation and a small fee from every cable subscriber. It’s this final one that seems to be getting many people upset. “don’t force me to pay for sun news” they say. Actually, I agree with them, no person sould be forced to pay for something they don’t agree with. Fortunately, that same argument can be made about the CBC. But, I’ll digress talking about bias news coverage as there is enough meat on that bone for an entire other article.

All Sun News is asking for is an “equal playing field”. Other Canadian news channels like CTV News Channel and CBC News Network are already required viewing in Canadian homes. It seems ironic that the network that advocates for free markets and less government, is now asking for Government help for it’s very survival. Currently Sun News is losing $10 million a year and without monitory coverage, they may have to shut down.

It’s intriguing to me that the answer to all our problems always seems to be ‘more government’. Another way to put sun news on an equal playing filed would be to remove mandatory coverage for everyone. Allow cable companies to decide themselves what channels to carry and where they appear on the dial. This would  lower cable costs, allow us to pick and choose exactly which channels we want to subscribe to and may even put an end to one of the most frustrating parts of the cable viewing experience… seeing the exact same show on 10 stations at the same time. Unfortunately I don’t see that occurring anytime soon.

It’s also interesting to note that Sun News HAD mandatory carriage when they first started but gave up that part of their licence. It’s a long complicated story that I won’t attempt to bore you with here.

I don’t think Sun News (or any of the other channels vying for required viewing) will win their bid, there is simply not enough bandwidth on the dial to accommodate everyone. I hope they can find a way to survive. Diverse voices in the news landscape are important and people should hear all pints of view. And if you think that all news outlets don’t have a bias… your wrong. Oh wait… I said I wasn’t going to comment on that.

The Rollye James 3 Constitutional Amendments

One of my favourite radio talk show hosts, Rollye James is back on the air. The other night on her program she went through the 3 amendments that she would like to see to the constitution. Now, these amendments are for the US constitution, but these 3 things can be applied here in Canada or anywhere around the world for that matter.

Government is too big. Politicians and political parties often don't have the public's best interest in hand when passing bills in the house of commons. Rollye's ideas would would change all this. The 3 amendments are as follows:

Lawmakers Must Agree to Live Under The Previsions of Every Bill They Passed

If they had to live under what they voted for, things would be very different. It would help with insurance premiums which is a hot button issue here in Ontario right now. 

No Unrelated Items Onto Bills At Hand

A lot of the ridiculous spending that happens occurs when things are added onto existing bills. These items usually have nothing to do with what is being voted on. Studies like whether Yoga is effective in reducing hot flashes in menopausal women... or the studies that continuously show time and time again that smoking is bad for you etc...

Every bill should stand on it's own. If it's good enough to pass, it should be good enough to stand on it's own.

Every Lawmaker Must Read The Entire Bill Before They Vote On It

This goes hand in hand with the above point. I recently saw a film called Whipped: The Secret World of Party Discipline. In this film, they mention that politicians often only have 20 minutes or so to read over a 400 page document that they are about to vote on. Of course, this is impossible to do. This would also make sthem shorter becasue... who is going to want to read all of that.

The flip side here is... how do you enforce this rule? Will there be a test? I suppose it's just the spirit of the law.

It's great to have Rollye back on the air... even if it's only on the internet. She is a strong voice for all this who advocate for freedom. Now... if we could only get Art Bell out of retirement

can be an effective method to
reduce the frequency and/or severity of hot flashes” in
menopausal women. - See more at: http://www.darwinsmoney.com/dumb-stimulus-bill-spending/#sthash.pjIqXjul.dpuf

can be an effective method to
reduce the frequency and/or severity of hot flashes” in
menopausal women. - See more at: http://www.darwinsmoney.com/dumb-stimulus-bill-spending/#sthash.pjIqXjul.dpuf

can be an effective method to
reduce the frequency and/or severity of hot flashes” in
menopausal women. - See more at: http://www.darwinsmoney.com/dumb-stimulus-bill-spending/#sthash.pjIqXjul.dpuf

can be an effective method to
reduce the frequency and/or severity of hot flashes” in
menopausal women. - See more at: http://www.darwinsmoney.com/dumb-stimulus-bill-spending/#sthash.pjIqXjul.dpuf

can be an effective method to
reduce the frequency and/or severity of hot flashes” in
menopausal women. - See more at: http://www.darwinsmoney.com/dumb-stimulus-bill-spending/#sthash.pjIqXjul.dpuf

Welcome To The Political Paradox Blog

I've wanted to start a blog for the last few months or so. It's difficult coming up with a name that is not only catchy, relevant, easy to remember but most importantly... a name that has not been taken yet. Enter... "The Political Paradox" Blog.

The name came to me a few weeks ago. I was listening to a radio talk show, the big story that day was the United States. In an effort to increase revenue, the US was thinking about charging a fee for motorists coming across the boarder. One caller said: "If they want more money, let's put an end to all of the people abusing the welfare system". Good idea suggested by the caller for sure but I said to myself "The Political Paradox there is... how much money do you want to spend fact checking every application?"

The abuse of the welfare system is a topic for another day but, right there I knew I had a catchy name. I ran downstairs to log online to see if it was taken. To me, this was urgent business... like I only had two minutes left to snipe an item on ebay. To my surprise "Political Paradox" was aviabale!

So here we are, The Political Paradox Blog. "Political Paradox" sums up a lot of my thoughts on many issues. A government program created to help one group, has a negative impact on anther group. Or the old adage... no government program seems to work the way it was originally intended.

Who am I? I'm a Canadian and I'm a libertarian. Two things that aren't usually seen together. We are a rare breed up here... kind of like spotting a unicorn. This blog, will be about the world as I see it. I'm a bit of a skeptic. Many of the phrases and statistics we hear everyday, just simply aren't true.

So here I am... I've made it ma... I'm a Blogger!