EnMasse

[thwap]

I really don't know what's going to happen. Humanity (coerced or duped by our elites) is determined to continue along the path to ecological Armageddon. One of the worst offenders was Canada's stephen harper government. And now he's got a majority government. Extra-parliamentary protest is a sad joke. Tiny bands of the already converted unite to shout something for an afternoon and if the numbers get anywhere serious, highly-paid pigs are available to smash their skulls in.

The political awareness in this country is a joke. Except for the fact that the NDP, under the radar, appears to be gaining strength. The desperate economic climate, the naked amount of class warfare in this country (instigated by those at the top) must be having some sort of impact on the attitudes of Canadians, far from the editorial boards of the mainstream media, where whole departments are dedicated to providing "Lifestyle" news to the most affluent 30% of the population, besides blathering yet again for Canadians to be "patient" as the "progress" continues in Afghanistan.

Of course, the NDP, being what it is, will probably reinvent itself into some version of the Liberal Party. (Indeed, some people are arguing that this "pragmatism" is just what the NDP needs, and that those fools who made it a "religion" are going to be disappointed as the party leadership "matures." The possibility that we might have to thank those "fools" and their struggling to keep the NDP as true to their principles as it remains, for attracting voters away from the unprincipled Liberals doesn't even occur to them.)

I'm simply at a loss. In the 3-d world, I have, over the past month or so, tried to reach out to other groups to come together and discuss possibilities for resistance, only to be met with silence. (Or derision, as "left-wing" political groups turn out to be anti-union, anti-protester, pro-business, middle class dweebs.) I haven't bothered with my local NDP riding association since two e-mails asking for a group meeting or online discussion in order to send a message to the party leadership have been met with silence. I'm not surprised that I'm expected to be a source of funds for the party and not so much a source of ideas. I am surprised at the depths of irrelevance of party membership though.

The reason I spend time in politics is because our present path is the path to species suicide, with social-economic meltdown as the appetizer. I have no illusions that had I dedicated my life to earning money (within the limits of my patience) that I would have amassed enough to insulate me from the uncertainty of late capitalism. If things are going to be made stable and whole for ordinary people, it is going to have to come from politics, not the capitalist marketplace.

Right now though, politics seems as barren a field as the job market.
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Man! I hate them fancy-lads!

[F.]

This won't change your mind, but it is something to mull over:

[Rufus Polson]

As far as the NDP goes, I see one and only one real worthwhile factor that will help them not to turn into the party of Tony Blair: They have never accepted corporate donations. Theoretically nobody can now, but we know the other two do anyway by sleights of hand. Structurally, that still leaves them beholden to the membership rather than the big $$$.
Organizationally they're less than wonderful, though.

On the broader topic I do mean to yack, but I have to go now.