OVERCOMING APATHY:

[Trouble]

Tom & Hiti, remind anyone of an old SNL skit called Point Counterpoint...

Or the "unintelligible" sniping/comments on the Crossfire transcripts.

[Trouble]

sarah_fennel, it is youth like you that can provide leadership in fighting apathy.

Here are a few ongoing events you might like to pass onto your friends and other conservative youth.


HAVE YOU HAD ENOUGH YET

http://www.freedominion.ca/phpBB2/viewt ... sc&start=0

Email this thread to all your friends and contacts and keep asking - Have you had enough yet?

Anti-Kyoto rally December 2, 2002
http://www.freedominion.ca/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=7990

Jason Kenney townhallhttp://www.freedominion.ca/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=7984

More freeps and counter-freeps regarding supporting Canadian Armed forces.
http://www.freedominion.ca/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=7803

Freedom and Liberty demonstration January 1, 2003
http://www.freedominion.ca/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=7832
The January 1st demonstation sounds like a fun one! Who wants to head to Ottawa for New Years to celebrate!

Have you had enough yet?

[Trouble]

sarah_fennel, the best and the easiest way to fight apathy and defeat the Liberals is to support Free Dominon.

Visit the Victory Bond Store and buy stocking stuffers in the form of bumper stickers for all your friends. After one edition of bumper stickers is sold out, the next edition can be printed.

The merchandise is cheap, anyone (including students) can afford it!

http://www.freedominion.ca/donation2.htm

[Trouble]

BTW, happy to hear you are taking friends to CA banquets that's how the message spreads!

[Trouble]

Get the picture Prime Minister Chretien?

[Philtreat]

I'd like to post this piece that I wrote some months ago (Feb 2002). It is still apt today.

Randy


Abject Apathy

Is our democracy just an illusion? In a real democracy, the people are ultimately responsible for the political realities they have chosen.
Stop blaming others.

This piece is for the few who actually care and take the time to read this brief observation about the present state of our parliamentary democracy, our political system, commonly referred to as the status quo, or the way things are.

Is there a problem? Yes. How can it be described in the simplest terms yet not be simplistic. The problem is very complex because people are complex and the forces of human nature are very powerful.

The bottom line is we want change. We want a change of government. We want a different group to govern. The problem is that we do not see that there is anything to change to. There is no perceived acceptable alternative.

Based on a mathematical and psychological analysis of election results, a significant number of electors feel that it is time to change the current governing group called the Liberal Party of Canada, regardless of who the leader is, but especially with their present leadership.

The problem arises when these same electors feel, for whatever reasons (reasons don't matter at this stage), that they have no acceptable alternative to vote for. As long as this perception exists at its current high level, it is the reality, no matter what the ideal. The longer this state exists, the more we lose hope that a solution will come along that is acceptable to those who want change.

When people lose hope, they tend to give up and go away. They opt out of the system, they disconnect, and they stop participating. Since democracy is about people participating, having their say and having it count for something, as soon as that participation is threatened the system becomes dysfunctional. All of this plays into the hands of the governing group. It becomes easier for them to get re-elected and entrenched.

So, are we still happy with the "devil we have"? Under a worst case scenario, there will come a point in time when we will believe that we may be happier with a "new devil" and just about anyone else with a reasonable plan and some talent could not do any worse than what we have now. We would have nothing to lose and everything to gain. I sure hope we see the light before it comes to this?

For most, "politics" a dirty word? What do most Canadian electors think about politics, politicians and our political system? Without doing a scientific study to find out what most already know as self evident from past observation and conditioning, most are apathetic about the whole mess. They would just rather not talk about it. In fact, I would dare to take it one step further and say that it is "abject apathy" that is the root of all our political problems.

The root of the problem is psychological. It's about what we think and believe and how we feel. Right now we are not well. It's like walking and working with a mild headache or stomach cramp or joint or back pain. Too bad we couldn't feel like we do about hockey when we think of what needs to be done to heal or confused Canadian political psyche.

The term abject apathy is used to describe the predominant political psyche of Canadian electors. We don't need to go into the reasons why this is a self evident truth. We don't need to analyze it to death either. All we need to do is agree that until this situation improves significantly, nothing else will change. The hardest work, with the most noble of intentions, by the best people will not be successful at correcting the problem until the psychological aspects of what we think and feel are addressed. Healing must occur. This will take time, but it must start now.

What a daunting, if not impossible task! Maybe, we should just join the rest and give up now, before we start something and end up wasting our time and energy on a lost cause. Is this the attitude we should have? No way!

It just means that our goal is a long term one and it will require patience, diligence and a firm, unshakable resolve. It means admitting that we may be looking at a 2 or 3 election scenario before the problem is finally corrected. It does not mean that I think the Liberals will continue with a majority next time, about 2 1/2 years from now. It means being pragmatic but also having compassion for ourselves. The Canadian Way seems to be compassion for others, among other things. We must not forget to be compassionate for ourselves, our political family and friends. It is also important to know who your real friends are but not be blinded or shaken by false and counterproductive behavior which is "encouraged" by the competition (The Kins-hell-a Effect1). Time to focus inward. Inward bound.

In a real democracy, it is the people, who choose to participate, who are in charge, not the elected representatives who we label politicians. Maybe, we should focus less on labels like left and right, liberal and conservative and less on personal agendas and egos. Maybe we should focus more on what is good for the country, on forgiving those within our own political family who may have strayed and admit, privately, that many things happened that many people now regret, learn from our lessons and rebuilding trust by going beyond just talk and rhetoric, but by our actions and deeds. Maybe we should focus more on more co-operative and facilitative efforts, especially in areas we share in common, to demonstrate that we can work together professionally, with dignity and respect and get things done much better than what we have now.

I, for one, think it is time for people to go beyond the lip service and find a way to get the job done! We need to stop talking and start doing. I believe I have found a way that is practical and realistic, if only we can overcome the apathy that makes it so difficult to communicate effectively. Communication is the game.

I am looking for new partners, subscribers, and supporters of a private coalition of voters. I am looking for people from all political persuasions and all areas of the country who think they may be able to break free from the political chains of abject apathy and get excited about something new, something that could make a big difference.

A simple motto may be "we will dare to be different, we will dare to be great, we will dare to be our best!"

I am looking for people to pool their resources and talents to help, with others, create and develop a reasonable and acceptable alternative for each riding across the land. It is time for a renewed sense of hope to bubble forth and the next generation of strong leadership to come forward.

The dilemma is that time is of the essence and there is a sense of urgency but great patience and diligence will also be required to succeed. Somewhere along the way, a balance will be struck.

We need a new sense of hope to overcome this general malaise we feel about politics.

Overcoming abject apathy is required before things can change for the better. Too many people have given up or resigned themselves to the status quo. Are we really practicing responsible citizenry?

Now the real kicker… with the onset of gritlock2, we have lost our political freedom to remove a government on a whim, because electors should always perceive that there are two equally qualified or unqualified (depending on your perspective) choices on the ballot. RIGHT NOW WE DO NOT HAVE THAT CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT. We have lost our political freedom to choose by stealth, AND NO ONE SEEMS TO CARE!

Another kicker… I think it may be no accident or coincidence.

[Humble Opinion]

Well hello apathy!!

I thought you had died of - - well - - Apathy.

Philtreat Quote:
The bottom line is we want change

I think the bottom line is: We want good things, and we want Nanny-State to provide them. zzzzzzzzz

Ol' Tom Humble.

[Trouble]

This is also posted here:
http://www.freedominion.ca/phpBB2/viewt ... 5&start=15

As for civil disobedience you make me laugh as that the government has made sure that is illegal too and has no problem putting 100s if not 1000s in jail for trying that.

Canadian Rebel Alliance, jail is sometimes a part of civil disobedience i.e. Ghandi, while insisting on peaceful demonstrations was arrested more then once, his moral authority increased the longer he was in jail.

Likewise, western Canadian grain farmers who have served their partial and full sentences. When people are willing to go to jail to defend their principles, it serves to show the unjustness of the law. As more and more are willing to go to jail then the unjust law looses its meaning. If 1000's do indeed go to jail over an unjust law, then the system begins to clog up and the law is unenforceable.

Jail time served when the law is unjust is a very effective form of civil disobedience.

You are right that some radical feminist orgs have resorted to violence, and that is what is discrediting them in the public domain.

We do not have to resort to that level of nastiness, support is lost not gained.

Peaceful rallies are another form of very effective civil disobedience. Only a few years ago a student organisation named Opter, likely similar to Free Dominion in that it was a group of young people who were internet based, brought down the regime of Slobodan Milosevic by the means of peaceful, civil disobedience.

Opter educated their young people on how to be activists and then their representatives organised and got an extremely apathetic general public to take part in the ongoing rallies. They did it one rally at a time, winning over one person at a time. The fractured opposition was forced to unite because the pressure from the people was too great.

Until, after the general election that they knew Milosevic had lost, by their email chain of scrutineers, but they knew he would try to rig the election; their capital city's streets filled up with so many thousands and thousands of people that no one could move or go anywhere. They always made a point of being extra polite to the police, so in the end the police joined the people.

The government branded them as fascists, when all they were for was freedom, but the people saw through the governement's claims, because when they saw them face to face they were average young people.

Because Canada is still a democracy, the level of protest does not need to be this drastic. But to enact a regime change, yes the pressure has to be greater then it is now.

The sleeping giant, as in Canada's general public has been awakened before; remember the GST and Brian Mulroney and the PCs?

Kyoto can have the same effect on the general public with the Liberals. Only when in the streets of Ontario, live cams have found most people don't even know what Kyoto is (so why are they responding to the surveys you might ask, or who are the surveys interviewing).

That has been the plan of Chretien all along. As long as the people are uninformed the easier it is to ram something like Kyoto through. The longer the public has to become educated, the more they will not be in favour of the proposed change i.e. Charlottown Accord, the GST etc.

Chretien has been around the bloc, so he knows this basic fact and doesn't give a rat's patootee if he takes down Martin and the Liberals in the process, because he has a bad case of Manning fever as in deposing whoever takes the reigns after him.

Anyway, our work is cut out for us, but if a bunch of students can take down a dictator like Milosevic through peaceful means, surely the cross-section of Canadian patriots found at Free Dominion can take down the current Liberal regime in a democracy using many of the same principles.



In order to reach the objective of Liberal regime change, is going to take heavy-duty education and real live activism. Free Dominion is the place to meet and discuss these ideas. Just like Opter, and Free Republic, we can meet and discuss activism ideas here on Free Dominion.

But in order to educate and reach the general public, Free Dominion needs MULAH, as in hard cash to get the information out to the people, in the form of bumper stickers and posters and signs.

Free Dominion needs money to archive the words that will inspire the people to rise above their apathy.

Pennies, dimes, nickels, dollars must be sent into central headquarters to enable Free Dominion to organise the kind of activities that we need to defeat the current Liberal regime. This is the way it has always been done; we have a National organisation to do it for us, now they need the money to move ahead with their organisation.

Send dem da money!




HAVE YOU HAD ENOUGH YET?
http://www.freedominion.ca/phpBB2/viewt ... 59&start=0

Then Visit Free Dominion's Victory Bond Store
http://www.freedominion.ca/donation2.htm

Or donate what you can to defeat Liberalism
http://www.freedominion.ca/donation.htm

A major upcoming protest that everyone needs to be aware of:

January 1st, 2nd and 3rd in Ottawa!
http://www.freedominion.ca/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=7832