Last Updated:Friday - 09/24/2010

WCR Letters to the Editor

Let's scrutinize democracy

Glen Argan's thoughtful Sept. 26 editorial("No scrutiny of Canada's elite") raised the important question of democracy. Key concepts in Catholic social teaching such as the common good, the preferential option for the poor and the priority of labour over capital can be realized only in a true democracy.

The word democracy simply means government of, by and for the population - rule by the ruled and all of the time. You can't be a little pregnant.

Nowadays, the word "democracy" is trotted out a hundred times a minute by politicians, especially during elections. Few of them know what it means; they believe it is the system that we now have. But we aren't even close to meaningful democracy.

A simple test will show how far from democracy we really are. Look at the school curriculum. What information is allowed? Is genuine democracy ever a topic? Are the root causes of poverty and inequality taught?

Look at the mainstream media and ask who determines what is reported and what is left out? Does the corporate media ever debate true democracy? Look at Parliament and the legislatures. Who makes the big political decisions and who are chief beneficiaries of those decisions?

So-called "democracy" in state-capitalist societies has always meant that elite elements based in the business community control governments by virtue of their dominance of the private sector, while the population watches passively.

It is a system where electors, if they vote at all, have no choice but to rubber stamp, on one (election) day every four years, the corporate agenda (profits over people), and guarantee the legal protection of the privileges of the wealthy and the powerful.

Many have become addicted to commercial television. It exploits the emotional needs of vast audiences feeding them mindless shows designed as entertainment. Viewers are diverted or distracted from identifying the causes of their problems, let alone the understanding of any sensible solutions to them.

Even newscasts are often little more than infotainment or fear-mongering. For the tiny number of ruling elites, the system functions best when the people are confused, afraid and obedient. They're easy to control that way.

Tax-deductible advertising makes up 60 per cent or more of the self-censored daily newspapers. The idea is to turn citizens into apathetic consumers, and convince them that the way to deal with their empty lives is by buying more and more stuff.

Vaunted possessive individualism ensures that they will be disconnected from encountering the needs of others. After all, you are what you own in this materialistic society.

There is little doubt that the provincial government cannot tolerate dissent, the essence of democracy.

The current Klein government is big business, and it has its own propaganda apparatus, the Public Affairs Bureau, from which information can be easily controlled or spun away. We pay $13 million a year in taxes for that.

Lately, a few mainstream writers have been hyping what's called the "democratic deficit." Things like redressing the absence of opposition MLAs on government committees or holding longer legislature sittings are touted as ways to overcome the deficit. But these are merely window dressing.

It wouldn't make any difference if we had proportional representation, or even if everyone participated in the ratification of the ruling elite's decisions.

The bottom line is that the economy is held largely in private hands.

The other Golden Rule obtains: the few who own and control most of the gold make all of the important rules. Big dollars vote every day.

In a real democracy, there would be popular, not corporate, ownership and control of our natural resources. Economic democracy would mean significant income equality, but the rich-poor gap is wider than ever.

Fred Douglas
Edmonton

Can politicians be excommunicated?

This is not to say that I don't think they should be excommunicated, in fact, they probably should. If they are Catholic, as they claim to be, they should hold personal beliefs harmonious with the dignity and sanctity of human life and human sexuality as the Church proclaims them.

However, I don't believe the Church can excommunicate them, not right now anyway, because the Church itself lacks the moral credibility to do so meaningfully in the eyes of many North Americans.

Their image of the Church is scarred by abuses of power, mistaken action in South America and doctrines that people cannot or will not understand, feeling those doctrines to be out of touch with their lived experience.

Excommunicating these politicians may be justified, but would only result in further alienating many, who already perceive Catholic leadership as hypocritical and irrelevant.

As such, it is my hope that those in leadership in the Church will dedicate themselves to acting as Christ would act in all circumstances, and in doing so, earn back its reputation as a moral authority for the modern world.

Rev. Michael Mireau, Pastor
St. Michael's Parish, Leduc
Our Lady of Victory Parish, Thorsby

We are a child-hating culture

If I had the power, I would stop this carnage because an injustice is occurring every time a baby is aborted. These victims are innocent. According to the Oct. 4 CTV News, the rate of child abuse in Canada is also rising.

It has been said that abortion on demand leads to more and more child abuse in cultures that kill the unborn because such cultures soon lose respect for children after birth too.

We are a child-hating culture and yet our world will not continue without children being born.

As a country, you can keep bringing in hundreds of thousands of immigrants and a wealthy, empty country like Canada should do that. But it also helps to have children instead of a negative birth rate. Canada is a dying country.

When was the last time you heard a homily about the culture of life? When was the last time you heard a priest in Canada denounce the contraceptive mentality from the pulpit? When did taxpayers last demand an end to the funding of groups like Planned Parenthood, the number one abortion referral agency in Canada?

Not to mention euthanasia, which is occurring in our hospitals. Murder by euthanasia has been legalized in Holland and Oregon. Scary!

Gerard Liston
Edmonton

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