tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611409863712113861.post9108605217928929463..comments2023-06-27T10:33:35.086-04:00Comments on kirbycairo: I am a Billionaire Socialist . . . . Oh no, I mean just a Socialist.Kirbycairohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17528654183160305877noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611409863712113861.post-85355907341155978282012-01-10T17:35:10.649-05:002012-01-10T17:35:10.649-05:00Dear Anonymous, yes there are differences. They ar...Dear Anonymous, yes there are differences. They are small and incremental, but there are differences. My grandfather fought for the most basic rights, the right to organize, safety in the workplace, the right for women to vote, the five day work week, etc. My generation struggles for a better life for my daughter. Sometimes it is one step forward and two steps back, but when I was a kid in the US blacks still had to sit at the back of the bus. The struggle continues and sometimes the neanderthals try to bring us back to the days when children worked in factories, but there are differences. We gradually win the war, equal rights for women, gay marriage, etc. and the struggle against corporate ideology is going to be a tough one but there are differences even if they are sometime too small and frustratingly slow.Kirbycairohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17528654183160305877noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611409863712113861.post-3556464296597670982012-01-10T17:26:25.498-05:002012-01-10T17:26:25.498-05:00But this is my point? Isn't it all the same: i...But this is my point? Isn't it all the same: is there really any difference between Mulroney and Chretien? Harper and Trudeau? I guess it is sort of like Douglas's White Cat - Black Cat thing. But even if we Prime Minister Topp or Mulcair, will it be any different?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611409863712113861.post-80054209703300565602012-01-10T16:31:20.271-05:002012-01-10T16:31:20.271-05:00Dear Anonymous - Yes, tyranny seems to be an ongoi...Dear Anonymous - Yes, tyranny seems to be an ongoing narrative of history. However, traditional tyrants have depended upon brute force to maintain their power, while the modern tyrannically minded leaders have had to depend in part on a difficult amalgam of public support and manipulation. In such a context history seems to have a tendency to speed up and fooling enough of the people enough of the time becomes difficult. And when such leaders do fall it is almost always hubris that leads them to the path of destruction. This is surely true of Nixon, Thatcher, Mulroney, the Bush cabal, and many others. Power hungry people seem to act the same whether they are in a dictatorship or a so-called democracy in that they eventually think that they can say anything, do anything with no consequences. It is the A-type personality gone wild and they eventually cannot imagine a context in which they are not in power. Self-destruction is inevitable. The only real question is whatever replaces them be significantly better and this is where all we have is hope.Kirbycairohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17528654183160305877noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611409863712113861.post-89912433694208457382012-01-10T15:01:45.170-05:002012-01-10T15:01:45.170-05:00Why are you still optimistic that people will toss...Why are you still optimistic that people will toss the Harpercons and their like aside? I look at history and all I see is one tyranny after another, one group of men dominating after another. No equality. Not even liberty.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611409863712113861.post-52921645240968113932012-01-10T14:47:20.172-05:002012-01-10T14:47:20.172-05:00Dear Anonymous - I believe that you are correct, t...Dear Anonymous - I believe that you are correct, though Baird has been much more open about it than any others. The press has had a long-time policy not to "out" anyone, though in Baird's case I don't think they should abide by that policy. Living in Ottawa one hears constant claims that Harper's wife is in fact gay an in a longterm relationship with a woman and that this fact is widely known by the media. Given Harper's attitudes I think that if this claim is true she should be outed immediately.Kirbycairohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17528654183160305877noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611409863712113861.post-24288336850081743602012-01-10T14:40:32.640-05:002012-01-10T14:40:32.640-05:00I think the reason that Baird and Kenney won't...I think the reason that Baird and Kenney won't come out is because Harpo himself is of the same persuasion but history and the 'need' to keep up appearances have him trapped in peculiar places.<br /><br />Joe and Tony make me wonder as well.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5611409863712113861.post-64193176000707524092012-01-10T13:27:10.634-05:002012-01-10T13:27:10.634-05:00I hope you're right about the eventual Conserv...I hope you're right about the eventual Conservative implosion, Kirby. I think they'll need a little help to self destruct, though.<br /><br />That's why I think Nathan Cullen's suggestion of an alliance -- not a merger -- of the left has legs.Owen Grayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06464860078574618579noreply@blogger.com