Power to the People - But What People?

Imagine if you were just learning to speak English and you hear the word "power". What does it mean? You go to your dictionary and you find almost a full page trying to define power. In general it says that power is the ability to act or produce an effect. In other words to truly understand the meaning of that word you have to see it within a context. We use it in many different ways: Ontario Power, power bar, solar power, car power, power house, water power, horse power, political power and so on. In the past few years an interesting distinction has arisen on the political front. Some governments now talk about "Soft Power", "Hard Power" and now the Center for Strategic and International Studies' Commission talks about "Smart Power". Internationally, hard power means using military and/or economic coercion to influence other political bodies. Soft power is getting what you want through co-operation and attraction. Smart power is the combination of both. The U.S. is beginning to realize that there are limits to what hard power alone can achieve.

What we are seeing happening today in what the West refers to as the Middle Eastern Countries or the Near East, that includes Western Asia and North Africa, is a clash between hard power and soft power. Because each country is different, so have been the results of the various confrontations. So far it looks good for Egypt but reports out of Yemen, Tunisia, Algeria, Bahrain, Libya and especially Iran are very different.

The living conditions must be 'powerfully' severe to incite hundreds of thousands of suppressed  people to risk their lives for what we simply take for granted in our own country. I have always exercised my right to vote, even if at times, a political choice was very difficult. On one occasion I actually destroyed my vote as I felt none of the candidates was worthy of support. Nevertheless, I felt I had to exercise my right at the polling station.

The conundrum is now becoming even more difficult. We may be facing both a Federal and a Provincial election this year. In Ontario there are so many urgent issues facing us - the environment, jobs, the rising cost of living, huge government debts, health care and education to name a few. I personally have problems with the imposition of the HST, no matter how much bribe money we received from Ottawa. Where are the thousands of new full-time jobs promised, the new industries (not just the propping-up of dying industries), the new sources of power - there is that word again! As a retired person my sources of income are limited and a couple of hundred dollars rebate is an insignificant bribe.

Ottawa seems bent on spending our hard earned tax dollars on useless dreams under the screen of producing jobs. Who are we going to fight with those F-35 jets (Canada's next generation fighters!), the Russians or the Americans! Why are we spending billions more on arms than we are spending on the needs of our poor, undereducated and sick?  Why will they not tell us, or our representatives in Ottawa, the costs associated with the new prisons being contemplated and why pass new harsh laws (hard power) to fill them up? Do our politicians need billions of dollars for temporary meeting places on Capital Hill during the proposed renovations? I feel hopeless when I see the waste of the party in "power", a party that has usurped the name Conservative and is deceiving so many true followers of the real Conservative Party?

In all this confusion I may be called upon once again to vote. How do I make my choices. Even politicians who originally are committed to the good of the country and its citizens, seem to lose interest as they get caught up in the partisan bickering demonstrated so aptly during question period. They are demonstrating a new kind of power that I call "Me Power". Their principle question is: " How do I retain my power, my party's power even at the expense of the common good?"

My last dreadful thought: Is Canada slowly moving down the road where we will be called upon to demonstrate in our city squares in the near future in order to restore democracy to our own country? Perhaps yes, but probably not in my life time, at least I hope not.

And that's Dick's View of the World this week.