5/9/07

The Situation

(Lifted from www.roninnova.ca)

Political Platform I (Visible)

As an eco-libertarian and bio-regionalist, I maintain the following:

  • The May-Dion pact, separate from Green and Liberal philosophies, is a political act. As such, it can be contested at the electoral level. For those Liberal voters who are opposed to having their freedom of political expression denied and who will not vote Green, Conservative or NDP, I am offering the electoral option for a more constructive protest vote than merely staying home on election night. Needless to say, the Green principle of grass-roots democracy is out the window.
  • The Green Party of Canada (GPC) has betrayed and abandoned the core Green political principles of bioregionalism and political decentralization. With climate change a given, it is imperative for a political entity to own these principles as it is the nation’s regions that will be affected in different ways. Where the ecological problems will be is where the solutions will need to be crafted with the aid of the Federal government.
  • The Federal government should seriously consider endorsing the commercial designation of Atlantica, with the proviso that Nova Scotia’s rolling stock be upgraded. Rail transport would displace the high volume of truck traffic, with its high levels of pollution, to transport incoming goods at the province’s ports. It’s not rocket science. The upgrading of the province’s rolling stock translates into a vast opportunity for TrentonWorks, a business whose business is steel and the manufacture of rail cars.

As a conscientious human being, I maintain the following:

  • The voters of Central Nova have the democratic right to freedom of expression. Given a realistic political medium and opportunity, they have the right and the obligation to themselves to correct the blatant democratic wrong committed unto them by Elizabeth May and Stéphane Dion as leaders of their respective political parties.
Addendum:

I was a member of the first Green party founded in the Americas, the Green Party of British Columbia. At the time of my resignation from the GPBC in 1986, I sat on the Executive and was a candidate-elect for the upcoming 1986 BC provincial elections. I have never held a party membership with any federal party.

Political Platform II (Somewhat Visible)

  • Politely, but firmly, send May-Dion packing from Central Nova

Political Platform III (Cloaked, though not hidden)

Kick-start a dialogue and philosophical exploration for the creation of a new Federal political party in the Maritimes, tentatively called The Atlantica Alliance Party, based on the following historical premises and context:

The GPC has abandoned the political principles of bioregions and decentralization. A political vacuum on the transitory cusp separating the Industrial Age from the Information/Ecological Age seems evident. Nature abhors a vacuum.

To the best of my knowledge, no one on the ecological political stage, e.g. Green parties, David Suzuki, Al Gore, etc., has yet to inform the Canadian public how the destiny of industrial civilization, i.e. global warming to name one factor, is locked into the First and Second Laws of Thermodynamics, that the ecological "bullet" that is heading for our social institutions is one that cannot be dodged:

First Law: All matter and energy in the universe are constant; it cannot be created nor destroyed. Only its form can be changed, but never its essence.

Second Law (The Entropy Law): Matter and energy can only be changed in one direction, from usable to unusable, from available to unavailable, from ordered to disordered. Every time energy is transformed from one state to another, a penalty is exacted. That penalty is a loss in the amount of available energy to perform work of some kind in the future. The term for this "penalty" is entropy. The implication is that all social phenomena is moving in the direction of random chaos and waste, i.e. maximum entropy. (Work-in-progress for insertion here: 1. using the sample of compact fluorescent bulbs, show how, within a global context, the supposed energy savings are highly questionable; 2. outline how the notions of how recycling and sustainability are somewhat illusory; 3. question the political validity of claiming that they are otherwise.)

The Entropy Law is not an opinion. It is physical law, as true as the Law of Gravity. We are as blind to it and its consequences as were pre-Copernican monks to the rotation of the earth around the sun.

As such, The Kyoto Protocol is very likely too late by about 50 years. Industrial civilization is a runaway train on a downhill slope that will have to run its course. Hope and work for the best; prepare for the worst.

The 2007 Federal Budget has made evident how politically isolated and lacking in political leverage, i.e. divided and conquered, the Maritimes are. A regional electoral block of 32 ridings translates into a hard, political asset with which to negotiate future needs.

The Federal Conservative Government has delivered the historical precedent of “nation-within-a-nation” status for the region/province of Québec. The constitutional premise and template for a new Federalism to meet the ecological challenges confronting the nation are at hand.

Atlantica lies latent on the east coast, Cascadia on the west coast, Québec already established. What is the ROC to do?

To take part in the dialogue towards this possibility, please stay tuned for the launch of a dedicated site and/or blog, likely a kind of Online Steering Committee, based on visitor interest. If you are interested in taking part in this dialogue, please send an email to sebastian.ronin@ns.sympatico.ca and place in the subject field "Atlantica Alliance."

4 comments:

  1. Anonymous9/5/07 10:34

    Hi Sebastian

    Don't you think that if Central Nova Liberals really care about this issue, then they should sort out Dion themselves, either at their next leadership debate or by defying the party line and running an independent themselves.

    Liberals had over a decade to show that they care about democracy, but made no move to implement proportional representation. They now deserve all they get.

    Now is NOT the time to be tearing apart this great opportunity we have for greening Canadian politics.

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  2. Anonymous9/5/07 11:39

    Yes, the Liberals may “deserve all they get” however my position is for that to happen with a gun placed to the head of the Central Nova Liberal constituency is an electoral offense and precedent of unwarranted magnitude. It is an act of theft, committed in collusion not so much between the Liberal Party and the GPC, but between their leaders. The means do not justify the ends (which in themselves are highly questionable), especially if those means rip at the very guts of our society’s democracy and related freedoms, i.e. freedom of expression.

    As I have laid out in my site for this independent candidacy, I am of the opinion that the GPC is light years removed from being “Green.” It has abandoned the core political principles of bioregionalism and political decentralization and now, has blatantly for all to see abandoned the principle of grass-roots democracy. It is merely another centralist Canadian political party and has been since the day of its inception. How could it be otherwise?

    And lastly, by virtue of launching this candidacy I believe that it is the perfect opportunity to expose the GPC for what it is, as I perceive that to be. Personally I think it quite likely that the “Green” political brand may have maxed out; that it has done all it can to bring surface ecological politics into the mainstream. It will take more than political neophytes, choreographed leadership contests and much well-intentioned hand-wringing to take things to the next level.

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  3. Anonymous9/5/07 20:20

    Mr. Ronin,

    How does your running even remotely help progressive ideals? From your website, this seems more like a blatant side-swipe and personal attach against Ms. May.

    As well, if you think that simply saying on your website that you'll email people the forms to sign for elections canada will get you enough signatures to fill the 100 required (after they are verified by EC as well), you are sadly mistaken. I have heard of people working the streets to get signatures and just barely getting in with the 100 legitimate signatures.

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  4. Anonymous10/5/07 06:47

    “Progressive” is a relative term. As seen through my filters, it is more often than not code for socialist/NDPer/perceived benefits of nanny-state, etc. As you will have noted, most if not all of my personal and political philosophy is contrary to the latter. And I consider it to be “progressive.” So there you have it.

    My candidacy is not a personal attack, but certainly does challenge a political decision that Ms. May has made. That is my prerogative. Here again, this is an extension of my personal, business and political beliefs: that individuals should be held accountable in their personal, business and political lives. It is much too easy to do a knee-jerk retreat into victim mode, i.e. I have screwed up, but don’t dare anyone call me on it or you’ll be bad. Interwoven in some of my positions, as may or may not be obvious, is a challenge to our culture’s incessant whining and resorting to victim navel-gazing, as packaged for a whole generation by a bureaucratic political-correctness. I believe that the PC pendulum has maxed out, that it is not possible to become sillier still at the exclusion and expense of assuming self-responsibility.

    Yep, I most certainly have my work cut out for me re signatures, Agent and Auditor. At the earliest, we are looking at a fall election, so the time-line is on my side. This is an exercise in raw grass-roots democracy, as opposed to merely mouthing the sentiment. I have publicly stated my intent, nothing more. There are no guarantees in this life as I know it and, when all is said and done, the only real freedom is freedom of opportunity. Should you live in Central Nova, please stay tuned re some of the “marketing” initiatives I have in mind to secure signatures. They stand to be as novel as is this campaign. For the recognized parties and for myself, once having cut through the babble of poll and spin, the “selling” of a political philosophy and/or position does not differ all that much from the selling of a bar of soap, e.g. identify need/demand, feature, benefit in that order.

    ReplyDelete