The Illusion of Utopia: A Critical Look at Progressive Ideals and Economic Realities

Summary of Key Points:

1. Individual vs. Collective Happiness:

   • Happiness is an individual pursuit, not a collective right. Everyone’s dreams and goals are different, so a one-size-fits-all approach does not work.
   • Some progressives believe the government should control and fund child care and daycare, while others argue it’s the parent's responsibility, not the state's.

2. Parental Responsibility:

   • The responsibility of raising, feeding, and clothing children lies with those who decide to conceive or adopt, not the government.
   • Government welfare programs often create ghettos and foster dependency rather than solving the underlying issues.

3. Economic Realities:

   • In both the US and Canada, a small percentage of the population pays the majority of taxes, while many pay little or none.
   • A fair tax system should ensure that all citizens contribute, avoiding an undue burden on a few.

4. Greed and Corruption:

   • Greed is not limited to Wall Street; it is also found among union leaders, politicians, and various interest groups.
   • Excessive regulations and demands drive businesses to seek cheaper labour and less restrictive environments abroad.

5. Historical Lessons:

   • Revolutions, like those in France, Russia, and China, often lead to more oppression and loss of freedoms than the regimes they replaced.
   • Modern political and union leaders often prioritize their personal success over the welfare of those they represent.

Many left-leaning academics, like Chris Hedges, criticize the free market system and capitalism, arguing that they lack proper competition and reasonable rules. However, their alternatives often hinge on utopian visions of wealth distribution and spiritual enlightenment, which do not translate into practical policies.

Democracy and freedom thrive on responsible governance and individual accountability, not unrealistic utopian ideals or class warfare. Ensuring economic and social stability requires balancing individual freedom with fair contributions from all citizens, rather than relying on expansive government control and entitlements.

Academia like Hedges are left-wing ideologists and hold the belief, that democracy of the free market system and capitalism is dysfunctional and has no proper competition with reasonable rules, but what are his alternative suggestions for proper completion and reasonable rules that are required under his ideals and theories of spiritual enlightenment for a Utopian collective community based on wealth distribution?

On a pragmatic and philosophical ground, the important point is that the pursuit of happiness is on an individual basis, not a collective right, as my dreams are different from yours and someone else’s is completely different from both of ours.

For example, the political holy grail of progressive socialized liberalism and some feminists is that the government should control and taxpayers should fund child care and daycare. Others hold the opinion that it is not the children who require liberating from the family but perhaps the mother should be liberated from the child.

It is not only the fathers who are supposed to guide their youth but the mothers, fathers and grandparents of their own offspring who are directly responsible for the youth of today.

The responsibility for sheltering, raising, feeding and clothing is the direct responsibility of those who decide to conceive or adopt a child.  

Government-run handout programs and mass social herding formulas for housing, rent, child care and unsustainable subsidies or socialism/communism is not the answer as history has shown.

It is however a worldwide failure and has done nothing other than create ghettos of segregated warehouses of poor people living in misery.

For myself, I believe that any fair-minded individual would not dispute the political reality that today the core agenda of domestic social liberalism relates to the support for a welfare state, abortion and the racial identity politics of multiculturalism-based redistribution of wealth through class warfare.

An unmanageable national debt aggravated by spending and borrowing for unsustainable entitlements and handouts has both caused and exacerbated the burden of an inequitable system of taxation whereby 10% of the US population pays 80% of all taxes and 43% of Americans account for 20% of paid federal taxes while 47% of the US population pay NO federal taxes?

Thus the so-called wealthy in the US already pay the brunt of taxes while 47% pay no taxes. In Canada, 33.4% of citizens pay less than $2 in federal taxes. Therefore 66.6% of Canadians are subsidizing 33.4% of the population.

A fair share, in Canada and the US, should mean that all citizens pay an equal amount of taxes as opposed to paying NO federal taxes at all.

Any mischief, based on an excessive desire to acquire and possess more than what one needs or even deserves especially concerning material wealth, did not originate from nor is it limited to that of the Wall Street or Bay Street of the world.

It all began with the greed of Union leaders as well as their members be it teachers, hospital workers, police, bureaucrats etc. along with politicians and corporations and the shareholders of publicity traded companies.

Such firms and organizations also represent companies in the resource development sector for green energy solutions and other special interest groups publicly traded around the globe.

Because of our now excessive and numerous government regulations and attempts to micromanage the free enterprise system through government controls and outright nationalizations of industries or corporations combined with excess wage, benefit and pension demands by all guilty parties businesses go to China, India, South America and other countries around the world to find a less expensive workforce and less government.

Unfortunately, the leaders today, be they politicians or union leaders, seem far more concerned with raising political donations or union dues through new members for their own re-elections and play fast and furious with our money for their own personal success and prosperity at the expense of the those who actual pay taxes or union dues.

It is not only individuals like Hughes who feel they are entitled to receive handouts from others or the wealthy.

It’s politicians, academia, artists, academics, students, bureaucrats, corporations, unions, special interest groups, it is your neighbours and those that pay little or no federal income taxes all of whom fanatically believe they are entitled to their personal entitlements at other people's expense.

This is not freedom or democracy but a resurgence of progressive totalitarian socialized liberalism. If anything occupying pressure groups protesting against the Wall Streets or Bay Streets of the world or individual achievements and wealth without any pronounced alternatives suggest anarchy.  

Perhaps as most academics preach they wish for a return to Fascism, Maoism, Maoism, Communism or 21st-century totalitarian socialism?

History has documented for us all that unexpected power by revolutions throughout the world are prone to arrogance, disrespect, intrusive and short-lived freedoms for the people at the expense of law and order, liberties and freedoms.

For example the French Revolution, given the benefit of history, "it's difficult to understand why anyone doubts the fascist nature of that revolution. It was totalitarian, terrorist, nationalist, conspiratorial and populist.

And it produced the first modern dictators, Robespierre and Napoleon. The paranoid Jacobin mentality made the revolutionaries more savage and cruel than the king they replaced. Over fifty thousand people died in the terror of that revolution."

The Russian Revolution and its later day revolutionary leaders were responsible for the deaths of more than 40 MILLION people in the name of that revolution.

The Chinese Revolution under Mao saw over 65 MILLION people killed in the name of that revolution. The Cuban revolution saw close to 50 thousand kicked, tortured, and terrorized and thousands of political prisoners still remain in jail for daring to speak up against Castro and his brother.

Unfortunately, today’s elected career politicians and bureaucrats within this new world consist mostly of blame passers who never take responsibility or come to grips with their personal refusal to stand up and be held accountable.

Money left in the hands of taxpayers is far more productive than putting it in the hands of career politicians, special interest groups and unelected bureaucrats.

Democracy yes, but anarchy, class warfare and revolutions NO as they tend to destroy freedom and liberties not build them.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/dailybrew/social-media-pummels-cbc-kevin-o-leary-nasty-185457737.html?

http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2011/10/10/charles-krauthammer-changing-our-world-faster-than-light/

South African White farmers 'being wiped out' by Dan McDougall in Ceres, Western Cape

Over 3,000 have been killed since 1994. Now the ANC is accused of fanning the hate.

Dan McDougall in Ceres, Western Cape

THE gunmen walked silently through the orchard. Skirting a row of burnt-out tires, set ablaze months earlier to keep the budding fruit from freezing, they drew their old .38 revolvers.

Inside his farmhouse Pieter Cillier, 57, slept with his 14-year-old daughter Nikki at his side. His 12-year-old son JD was having a sleepover with two teenagers in an adjoining room.

As the intruders broke in, the farmer woke. He rushed to stop them, only to be shot twice in the chest.

In his death throes, he would have seen his killers and then his children standing over him, screaming and crying.

The attackers, who were drug addicts, simply disappeared into the night. Cillier’s murder, at Christmas, was barely reported in the local press. It was, after all, everyday news.

Death has stalked South Africa’s white farmers for years. The number murdered since the end of apartheid in 1994 has passed 3,000.

In neighbouring Zimbabwe, a campaign of intimidation that began in 2000 has driven more than 4,000 commercial farmers off their land, but has left fewer than two dozen dead.

The vulnerability felt by South Africa’s 40,000 remaining white farmers intensified earlier this month when Julius Malema, head of the African National Congress’s (ANC’s) youth league, opened a public rally by singing Dubula Ibhunu, or Shoot the Boer. This apartheid-era anthem was banned by the high court last week.

Malema’s timing could hardly have been worse. Last weekend in the remote farming community of Colenso, in KwaZulu-Natal, Nigel Ralfe, 71, a dairy farmer, and his wife Lynette, 64, were gunned down as they milked their cows. He was critically injured; she died.

That same day a 46-year-old Afrikaner was shot through his bedroom window as he slept at his farm near Potchefstroom. A few days later a 61-year-old was stabbed to death in his bed at a farm in Limpopo.

The resurrection of Dubula Ibhunu, defended by senior ANC officials as little more than a sentimental old struggle song, has been greeted with alarm by Tom Stokes, of the opposition Democratic Alliance. He said the ANC’s continued association with the call to kill Boers could not be justified.

“Any argument by the ANC that this song is merely a preservation of struggle literature rings hollow in the face of farming families who have lost wives, mothers and grandmothers,” he added.

He was supported by Anton Alberts of the right-wing Freedom Front Plus party: “Malema’s comments are creating an atmosphere that is conducive to those who want to commit murder. He’s an accessory to the wiping out of farmers in South Africa.”

Rossouw Cillier, Pieter’s brother, bristled as he pointed to the bullet holes in the panelled kitchen of the farmhouse near Ceres in the Western Cape. “They shot him through the fridge from the back door — the bullets came straight through here, into his heart. He never had a chance,” he said.

A successful apple and pear grower, he believes his community is living on borrowed time: “More white farmers have been killed than British soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq. Yes, we are at war here.”

His brother’s farmhouse is now shuttered and empty. “I can’t spend time here. We’ll have to sell. This farm has been in our family for generations but it must go. Who’ll manage it? The children will never come back here. They held their own father as he died in front of them. Will they ever get over that?”

As we walked across the orchard, fruit destined for the shelves of Tesco and Sainsbury’s in the UK was still being picked. A tractor passed a 10ft cross erected in honour of the murdered farmer.

“It lights up at night,” Rossouw said. “My brother was a religious man. It’s all that’s left of him here.”

Across South Africa, many farmers feel endangered. In Northern Province a tribute has been created beneath an enormous sign with the stark Afrikaans word “plaasmoorde” — farm killings. Thousands of white wooden crosses have been planted across a mountainside, one for each fallen farmer.

Recently the government’s department of rural development has been airing proposals to nationalize productive farmland as a “national asset”. Critics claim it is designed to deflect criticism from the ruling ANC’s failures.

“It’s a lot easier talking about nationalizing farms than building decent houses, making clean water come out of taps or honouring promises to redistribute farm plots to millions of landless poor,” said a spokesman for AgriSA, the farmers’ union.

On the outskirts of Ceres, there are few groceries in the township store — tins of pilchards, baked beans, and some dried biscuits. A group of teenage boys sit on the burnt-out remains of a Ford Escort. This is where Cillier’s killers gathered, in a shebeen, a drinking club, where they fortified themselves with cheap hooch before they set off to rob him. They escaped with nothing.

According to Rossouw Cillier, the most telling detail is that his brother was unarmed when they attacked. “If we brandish a weapon, we’ll go to prison, not them. What did they gain from this murder? It was an act as pointless as their lives.”

Dan McDougall in Ceres, Western Cape as he reported 

 

Ontario Works Program Requirements Lacking Permanent Residence and Canadian Citizenship Eligibility Requirement?

Apparently, at present the main eligibility requirement for people seeking to receive benefits of financial assistance and other such programs and services is that the person be living in Ontario without first having to be a Canadian citizen or legally landed immigrant.

Experts put the number of undocumented immigrants in Canada at between 175,000 and 250,000 people.  While it is illegal for companies in Canada to hire undocumented workers this law is rarely enforced because of Toronto’s  “Don’t Ask” policy.

Many illegal immigrants in Canada are failed refugee claimants who never leave the country, or people who overstay visas. In Toronto and Vancouver, there are a large number of undocumented people who are working in the underground economy.

It further appears that the city under the previous administration ran up a bill of over 53 Million dollars for services that are over and above the mandatory health services required by the province.

To date, the province according to Andrew Chornenky has paid out over $135 Million to the city for welfare alone this year. However, it seems that the previous city administration was asking for an additional payment of some $35 Million for what I am not sure?

At present the city thanks to taxes paid by Toronto taxpayers helps with additional health costs for people living in Toronto that the province does not reimburse because one assumes they were not mandated services that the province is willing to pay for and rightfully so.

Toronto taxpayers presently fund such services as 

1.    Ontario Disability Support Program,

2.   Dental services,

3.   Eyeglasses and eye care,

4.   Health benefits for people leaving Ontario Works,

5.   Medical supplies and special devices,

6.   Medical transportation,

7.   Medication,

8.   Physiotherapy services,

9.   Special diets,

10. Other health-related resources? 

http://www.metronews.ca/toronto/local/article/705387--city-province-in-spat-over-welfare-costs

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http://www.toronto.ca/socialservices/healthcosts.htm

http://www.accesson.ca/en/mcss/programs/social/ow/

http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/welfare.htm

Happy Hanukkah and Merry Christmas and an Exciting, Active and Healthy Holiday Season to All Who Celebrate Same in Their Personal Way.

 

Hanukkah  2010  December 1-9

Hanukkah which this year started on December 1, is a Jewish holiday celebrated for eight days and nights. Hanukkah has become much more popular in modern practice because of its proximity to Christmas.

With many Jewish people living in predominately Christian societies, over time Hanukkah has become much more festive and Christmas-like.

Jewish children receive gifts for Hanukkah – often one gift for each of the eight nights of the holiday. Many parents hope that by making Hanukkah extra special their children won't feel left out of all the Christmas festivities going on around them.

Christmas 2010 December 25

Around about 400 AD, Christians started celebrating the birth of Jesus. 'Christ' means 'Messiah' or 'Anointed One' - the title given to Jesus - and 'Mass' was a religious festival.

Unfortunately in most of the world today, the real meaning of Christmas is often forgotten. It has become a non-religious holiday!

More children believe in Santa Claus or Father Christmas than in Jesus. Christmas Day has become a time of exchanging gifts and for eating, drinking too much and watching television.

To find  the real Christmas story it can be found in the Christian Bible. It is told in two different books, Matthew and Luke chapters 1 and 2.

By reading the story of the birth of Jesus and seeing how Christians celebrate Christmas today you will see that unfortunately they do not seem to have many connections in  Christian society to day.

All Levels of Gvoernemt Should Implement Zero Based Budgeting Process

 I strongly believe Mayor Rob Ford and his new administration can come in with No tax Increases for 2011 and replenish the city reserve funds if.....

He insists that a zero base budgeting process be put in place for all city departments, services, commissions and programs for 2011 and beyond immediately.

A zero-based budgeting process requires that the existence of a government services and programs be justified in each fiscal year, as opposed to simply basing budgeting decisions on a previous year’s funding level.  As such it would force all city departments, commissions etc. to assign every dollar of income to an expense (or savings) category.

This ZBBP puts the burden of proof on the Commissioner and managers and demands that each justify the entire budget in detail and prove why he or she should spend the taxpayers money in the manner proposed. As In zero-based budgeting, each dollar spent by management must be justified with a detailed account of what will be spent

Do We Canadians Have a Right to Know How Much Time Our Civil Servants Spend on Social Media Sites While Working on Our Dime and Supposedly for Us?

                                                                                  

Studies show us that the cost of illegal use of Internet access by employees from corporations or governments based on 1,000 employees is $36 MILLION or more annually in lost productivity for one hour of such daily illegal web surfing by civil servants or other employees.

Statistics relating to employee computer and Internet abuse are alarming and should be of great concern not only to corporations but also to our elected representatives of the government.


How do our elected representatives who are supposedly in charge of looking after our tax dollars, in a prudent manner, continue to allow such unnecessary costs and abuse by civil servants unabated and without termination procedures in place.


Such flagrant disregard for taxpayers’ money is itself a breach of trust by our politicians.


Please take the time to read more about such facts @ http://www.snapshotspy.com/employee-computer-abuse-statistics.htm for future reference.

Our government has spent millions of our tax dollars arguing that taxpayers have no right to know how much time civil servants spend on social media sites, sports and entertainment websites or trying to access websites that show porn or promote “Racism and Hate” or “Drugs.”

The Toronto Stars' recent article @ http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/896435--civil-servants-internet-habits-kept-secret-from-taxpayers confirms such a waste and abuse of our tax dollars and the fact that our government continues to hide such information from us, the ones paying the bills.

When it involves public service work habits, public funds, transparency and openness must prevail.

The refusal to make public the Internet habits of our civil servants is a shady one at best.

Elected representatives, with such nonsensical, irresponsible and undemocratic approaches, deserve to be kicked out of office as such actions are not consistent with open and honest public service or a government that works for the people.

Let’s hear from you the ones having to foot the bill for such abuse by our civil servants.


More fact sources @ http://profit.ndtv.com/news/show/social-networking-costs-uk-businesses-22-2-billion-87716

Toronto Island Airport Gets Environmental Approval for Tunnel Link

Now that we have learned that a pedestrian tunnel would have no significant environmental impact and the fact that the TPA requires a an easement from the City to build any such tunnel, mayor elect Rob Ford must set a precondition that the outstanding tax arrears of $33,096,000 owing to the taxpayers of Toronto by the TPA shall be paid up in full prior to any further discussion with the city concerning the island airport expansion or consideration of an easement from the city for such a tunnel.

Until this precondition, that all TPA tax arrears are fully paid up, is met the enforcement of existing constraints on expansion must of course remain in effect.

Also the Canada Marine Act Regulation 2005-690 states, “the Toronto Port Authority shall not use, or permit any other person to use, the port to build a bridge or similar fixed link between the mainland of the City of Toronto and the Toronto Islands”.

One would hope that the waterfront community and the Island airport could hopefully reach a compromise position on any proposed expansion of the airport facilities which would be for the benefit of all Torontonians in the not too distant future.

http://www.insidetoronto.com/news/local/article/903904--environmental-report-gives-ok-to-proposed-city-airport-tunnel