Does voting change anything? Sort of. While all Canadian politicians are incapable of resisting the status-quo, there are differences between them, with some being devotees to it while others attempt timid ameliorations of its worst effects. Consistently voting for the least rabid option ("lesser evilism") does have its benefits, in practice it seems to only encourage a continued slide towards right-wing, klepto-capitalist insanity.
Voting should be much more consequential than it is. What are the material conditions that have rendered our options to be so limited? The answers to that are all over this blog. The decline in profitability due to the increases in competition; financialization; neo-liberalism.
The oligarchy has built a massive propaganda network using money that they extracted from the society they are brainwashing. Psychological manipulation through public relations, advertising and marketing, "pro-business" "think-tanks," propaganda outlets like FOX News; and "grass-roots" travesties like Breitbart, Rebel News, and abuses of religion that fund right-wing and racist websites and organizations.
This whole vast apparatus is necessary because the message that they impart is unpopular due to its proven negative impact on ordinary people's lives and because of its overall stupidity. Leftist viewpoints of economic fairness, responsible individual freedom (not: "It's my god-given right to fire assault rifles on target ranges or to shoot my wife in the head in a fit of rage, and weekly mass-shootings at primary schools should not be used as an excuse to remove this simple pleasure from my list of options.") and ecological sanity are far more popular in a fair contest.
What forces stand in the way of genuine change? Status-quo politicians sure. But look towards their pay-masters. The financial sector. Fossil fuels. Selfish, greedy employers. Authoritarians of all stripes and at all levels of society.
It would help if the Left had a clear vision of what it wants and some sort of coherent narrative for getting from here to there. Delivered in language that ordinary people can understand. But it doesn't.
I wanted to say something today. Without putting too much work into it. So there you go.
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