I decided to try a new feature here on my blog a couple of months ago: my most popular social media posts. Well, here is the third installment:
Category: Politics
When the topic of gun control comes up, it’s inevitable that someone will mention mental health. They claim that guns aren’t causing gun violence, but rather poor mental health care is.
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Gun ownership isn’t the problem
If gun ownership breeds higher gun violence, then countries with higher gun ownership should have higher gun violence, right? Well, it certainly seems to be the case with the United States. They have the highest civilian gun ownership rate in the world and one of the highest firearm homicide rates.
But it’s not that easy.
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Liberals should stop splitting the vote
Let’s remember that during the 2015 federal campaign, the NDP were the frontrunners. Right up until about a month before the election. It was about that time that the Liberals started getting worried. Liberals don’t think the NDP are a viable party to govern in Parliament, so they assumed that NDP winning would actually result in a Conservative win. They use this belief to scare left-leaning voters to get behind them, saying that if people vote NDP, they will split the vote.
But it takes two to tango.
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Canadian conservatives are a minority
If the Conservative Party of Canada wins the federal election later this month, I think we should be careful about interpreting that as meaning that Canadian voters are conservative.
Given its propensity to vote in Conservative representatives, Lethbridge is known as a conservative stronghold. But it actually has a significant labour history going back over a century.
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Capitalism can’t combat climate change
Capitalism cannot be the vehicle to combat climate change.
In a free market economy, the law of supply and demand, rather than a central government, regulates production and labour. This is a flawed system, especially when it comes to implementing change.
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Businesses manufacture market demand
Some time ago, I was talking to a homebuilder about a particular building material they were using for most of their homes. When I questioned them on it, they responded with something like, “We create only what the market demands.” Another homebuilder used a similar argument when I questioned them on their lack of multi-family housing options.
I’ve heard this argument from multiple businesses (not just home builders) over the years. Except it’s a lie.
Inequality is inherent in capitalism. Of course, in capitalism, power is unevenly distributed, lying in the hands of the few individuals who manage to own businesses and amass capital. But that power inequity breeds inequity in other areas.