ought I would find in any media format an editorial that so succinctly touched on almost all of the key points that have contributed to the unravelling of the underpinnings of our society. Thank you for expressing these issues with such clarity. (”No one should have to go hungry,” Mar. 21)
For years I have written in vain to politicians at all levels, particularly the Prime Ministers and Premiers of the day. I am pushing 70 now and last year wrote my final letters to Messrs. Harper and Campbell saying I was giving up and their “no tax” corporate agenda had triumphed to the detriment of the public interest they were sworn to uphold.
There is one point I did not find in your column, no doubt due to space limitations. This probably only occurred to me 20 or so years ago; a message never explicit but cleverly disguised, always the same for the 50 years I can recall. I would paraphrase it rather crudely as follows: “All taxes are evil and government is evil.” This message in its many subtle forms is unrelenting, pushed by so-called non-profit think tanks such as the Fraser Institute, handed on by chambers of commerce, business associations, and repeated by every private mainstream media corporation. I think this notion has now become a deeply held and wide spread belief in the general population so people focus on what else is provided. Celebrity culture, professional sports, electronic toys, etc. take precedence and certainly government and voting is avoided.
Thank you again — although I won’t live to see a change maybe there remains a faint hope coming generations will forgo their toys, cease to worship celebrities and focus on rebuilding the foundation of a caring and just society. Large global corporations and the mega-rich will do their best to prevent this and indeed I remain distressed that we allowed them to take it away. They have certainly bought and paid for the U.S. government.
Fred Thompson
Sidney