Having studied many topics throughout my life I came to an interesting yet simple conclusion: Most human failures on any scale are due to the loss of a moral compass.
Look at the bill recently passed by the U.S. Congress and signed by into law by President Barack Obama giving Monsanto immunity from prosecution. All Monsanto needed to do was to bribe, er, donate to U.S. politicians who inserted immunity clause into an unrelated bill and, lo and behold, fraud on a massive scale was born and cemented. Millions if not billions of humans are wondering if America went mad. Remember, Monsanto gave this world DDT, Agent Orange and genetically modified garbage. The first two are self-evident as to what value it brought to anyone. The third one is best answered by suicides of Indian farmers who lost everything after using the high-promise low-return Monsanto genetically modified garbage.
Had the U.S. politicos an iota of sound mind and an ounce of heart or soul, this nonsense would have never taken place. The U.S. politicians lost their moral compass.
The other notable example is last B.C. election, in which we were presented with one of three unique choices: vote from the pool of sold-out parties, vote for unelectable odd dudes or stay at home knowing our elections are, in fact, selections with a capital S.
Why do I say that? Because the Liberals are greasing wheels of their corporate buddies and the NDP does the same for big unions, while the Greens were unelectable for one, and only one, reason: they are pushing a highly controversial homosexual agenda, thus chasing away prospective voters from all walks of life.
Did not James Bovard warn that democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner?
To add salt to the injury, shortly after the election, the court basically rubber-stamped that Chinese workers can replace Canadians in B.C. mines. For those with a memory span longer than few years, the Liberals shoved the HST down our throats — once again, shortly after the election.
Both the Liberals and NDP are plunging our province into debt that will eventually destroy our children, if not us. This is just one of many examples showing that instead of natural resources and politicians bringing benefits to the majority of B.C. residents, we are selling our resources and our children’s future with politicians securing their temporary spot at the trough. Lost moral compass, anyone?
The last example I want to touch on is our beloved senators’ expenses. Harper was swearing all the way, until he weaseled his way into a majority government, that he would not stuff the Senate with unelected and unelectable cronies. Not only did the opposite happen, it turns out his buddies are the worst of the worst at the trough — with Duffy racking up illegal expenses of $90,000 being the tip of the iceberg among Harper’s appointees. To make things worse, the prime minister’s chief of staff, Harper’s right hand, wrote a personal cheque to cover Duffy’s indiscretions to keep Duffy quiet for a while. Of course, Harper denied it, then was frustrated, then did not show up for a question period. We would learn nothing of this without whistle blowers, would we?
I chose examples from politics because it is an area that touches all aspects of life and affects us and our descendants long after we are gone. If we do care, can we search our lives and surroundings for a moral compass, and if that’s what was lost, recover, restore, safeguard and start using it?
Vladimir Certik believes that thinking outside the box and engaging fellow citizens may bring simple solutions to complex problems. The West Creston resident can be reached at 250-402-0055.