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Deb Robinson's avatar

I agree with everything you say. Pollievre is not my kind of politician but unlike the other party’s leaders he wants change, not more of the same. I was recently at a private event with a former Liberal cabinet minister. They said the bureaucracy is broken and worse by the day, claiming federal bureaucrats have been taught that doing nothing is better than doing something as you only get penalized when you take risk. As a dual citizen who resides in Toronto but lives half time in US, I find both systems broken but at least in the US we rise up and protest against bureaucracy; in Canada if you were to do that you’d be put in the “basket of deplorables” that the trucker protesters are in. I was quietly judgmental against the vaccine hesitant and in hindsight I regret this and am angry that our PM continues to scorn them. Thanks for being a voice of reason. p.s., I am so done with Air Canada our airline monopoly. I use Porter or the US Airlines even when it takes longer. p.p.s. Put Apple Airtags in your checked luggage with Air Canada. The last time I flew with them they said my bag never made it from YYZ but I could see it made it but was put on the wrong carousel!

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Frank Lee's avatar

This is a great piece. I love the dichotomy of status-quoists vs brokenist. Virginial Postrel in her book "The Future and its Enemies", I think was on to this similar divide with those owning a statist mindset and the dynamists.

However, I have my own theories for what drives this (other than some baked-in personality traits of individuals to be more change-averse vs more change-attracted) ... I think it is simple a tilt toward where a person feels his bread is most buttered (or his perceived position on the social dominance hierarchy is best served).

There is that old Chinese saying: "Hard times create strong men that create good times that create weak men that create hard times." You can see this cycle repeat throughout history... the good times create an attraction to that status-quo as more people are better served by it. However, it also weaves a protective layer around it and begins to limit new entrants. A growing cohort of people perceiving to not be well served by the status quo then shift to brokenism... and then maybe nihilism.

In my view the missed opportunity is the lack of understanding for the need for constant adjustment limiting the growth of the protective layer. The brokenists, instead of going full deconstruction and scorched earth, should band together to demand the bureaucratic walls to access be carefully dismantled. I say carefully because too radical of moves will risk economic chaos as the system does not have time to adjust... and also because those well-served by the status-quo will be motivated to fight against the changes.

We need a de-regulatory commission that is perpetual and constant. We need to get back to celebrating the entrepreneur, the risk-taker, the enterprising upstart... and not giving king and queen status to those that consolidate power through administrative and corporatist overreach.

Great quote from Ayn Rand: "Men have been taught that it is a virtue to agree with others. But the creator is the man that disagrees. Men have been taught that it is a virtue to swim with the current. But the creator is the man that swims against the current. Men have been taught that it is a virtue to stand together. But the creator is the man who stands alone."

Watch Elon Musk and learn. Also note those against him and learn. We are broken because those against him have consolidated too much power and control to protect their self-interests. But we are also broken because those connected to the side of not-well-served are made to war within by those protecting the status-quo.

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