Come election time, politicians like to play the Fear card, whether it is fear of an “enemy” or bogeyman like Terrorist or Criminal (used to be the Communist) or at present, the faltering Economy. Ask yourself, both on an individual basis and as a society, if you can think of a time when you had enough – security, money or happiness. I’ve met very few people who ever answered in the affirmative, which means there’s never an ideal time to do the “right thing”, especially if it entails effort or sacrifice. As a meditation teacher, I have long encountered the same dynamic – lots of people very interested in meditating and convinced of its benefits, but never quite getting around to it.

The fact is that fear and dissatisfaction arise within each person. You can test out the accuracy of this by statement simply by looking into yourself. It follows that freedom from fear is a process that must also originate from within yourself – there are (essentially spiritual) ways for this to come about. A politician certainly cannot do it for you; even a priest, therapist or guru cannot do it for you, although they may provide valuable guidance.

The real question – not only at election time but always – is what is the purpose of life? What kind of world do we want to live in. At present, most of us make our choices through our political-economic system. Since the decline of Communism, the choice/ battle has been between different brands or degrees of Free Market Capitalism.

The Free Market purists/ extremists believe in a completely unfettered market. They implement policies which have become familiar over the last 30 years - tax cuts, social spending cuts, free trade, privatized services and deregulation. They tend to think that the only legitimate function of government is defence and law and order, hence that is where they spend their budget money. Critics of this system have argued that it is rigid, unstable, creates social hardships and accelerates the gap between rich and poor, which has certainly happened when it has been applied over a period of time. In 1973, the pay of corporate executives was 27 times that of the average worker; today it is nearly 400 times as high. The horrendous Depression of the 30s followed a free-for-all market economy and the current instability and recession (so far) is the result of the last 30 years of deregulation, begun by Thatcher and Reagan, and greatly accelerated by Bush, even as he took America into a misguided and expensive war, quickly dissipating the budget surplus Clinton left him.

The alternative to a totally free market is capitalism with controls wherein the government tries to mitigate hardship and move the country in specific direction e.g sustainable energy and care of the environment. The Right wing likes to characterize this as “free spending liberals” who will waste your money. In fact Bush and Harper have spent freely; there is a cost to fix the damage to the environment (much of it done by big business), but at the moment no one wants to pick up the tab so the problem worsens (and individuals pay for it through their personal health as well as out of their pockets since health care is increasingly privatized). There is also a social and economic cost to “no-cost” Free market policies and the present financial crisis is one of them, as are the increasing number of homeless and those unable to afford proper medical care.

Even if we prefer capitalism with a heart and a head, we the individual voters and spenders, have to step up to the plate. We have to show determination, discipline, good judgement and compassion if we are to create a truly different society. It was only last year that Al Gore was winning widespread acclaim for “An Inconvenient Truth”… so where is all that energy and enthusiasm now? Why are we not pressing our leaders on these issues or backing them if they are moving in the right direction?

Andy James

PS

The USA is spending over US$ 550 billion a year on its military, which is over 50% of its total budget and the highest in the world in absolute numbers and in percentage. Under Clinton, American military spending briefly dipped below 50% of total budget, but under Bush it has increased considerably. By comparison, the current “bogeymen”, China and Russia, spend $59 billion and $94 billion on military respectively. Canadians spend $18 billion annually.

The amount America has spent (and will spend) on the disastrous Iraqi military adventure is more than it would have taken to fulfill its Kyoto obligations, which Bush had protested would seriously affect the US economy. Guess what?... The economy is seriously affected (through Free Market capitalist greed and corruption), there are more Terrorists than before intervention and the environment and global warming situation worsens through neglect and all the extra pollutants that have been injected into the atmosphere through the Iraqi war – burning oil wells, explosions etc.