(Part 3) Top products from r/metacanada

VI. Logrolling and Vote Trading

The public choice concept of ‘ logrolling ’ denotes the exchange of favors among the political factions in order to get one’s favored project through by supporting the projects of the other group. This conduct leads to the steady expansion of state activity. Through the ‘quid pro quo’ of the political process, the lawmakers support pieces of legislation of other factions in exchange for obtaining the political support for their own project. This behavior leads to the phenomenon of ‘legislative inflation’, the avalanche of useless, contradictory and detrimental law production.

VII. Common Good

The so-called ‘ common good’ is not a well-defined concept. Similar terms, such as that of the ‘public good’, which is defined by non-excludability and non-rivalry, misses the point because it is not the good that is ‘common’ or ‘public’ but its provision when this is deemed more efficient by collective than individual efforts. However, this is the case with all goods and the market itself is a system of providing private goods through cooperative efforts. The market economy is a collective provider of goods as it combines competition with cooperation. Any of the so-called ‘public goods’, which the government supplies, the private sector can also deliver, and cheaper and better as well. In contrast to the state, the cooperation in a market economy includes competition and thus not only economic efficiency but also the incentive to innovate.

VIII. Regulatory Capture

The term ‘ regulatory capture ’ denotes a government failure where the regulatory agency does not pursue the original intent of promoting the ‘public interest’ but falls victim to the special interest of those groups, which the agency was set up to regulate. The capture of the regulatory body by private interests means that the agency turns into an instrument to advance the special interests of the group that was targeted for regulation. For that purpose, the special interest group will ask for extra regulation to obtain the state apparatus as an instrument to promote its special interests.

IX. Short-Sightedness

The political time horizon is the next election. In the endeavor that the benefits of political action come quickly to their specific clienteles, the politician will favor short-term projects over the long-term even if the former bring only temporary benefits and cost more in the long run than an alternative project where the costs come earlier and the benefits later. Because the provision of public goods by the state severs the link between the bearer of the cost and the immediate beneficiary, the time preference for the demand for the goods that come apparently free of charge by the state is necessarily higher than in the market system.

X. Rational Ignorance

It is rational for the individual voter in a mass democracy to remain ignorant about the political issues because the value of the individual's vote is so small that it makes not much difference for the outcome. The rational voter will vote for those candidates who promise most benefits. Given the small weight of an individual vote in a mass democracy, the rational voter will not spend much time and effort to investigate whether these promises are realistic or in a collision with his other desires. Thus, the political campaigns do not have information and enlightenment as the objective but disinformation and confusion. What counts, in the end, is to get votes. Not the solidity of the program is important but the enthusiasm a candidate can create with his supporters and how much he can degrade, denounce, and humiliate his opponent. As a consequence, election campaigns incite hatred, polarization, and the lust for revenge.

Canadians might not have an identity now but that has not always been the case. Before 1971 Canada, of course, had two main groups Anglos and Quebecois.

Quebecois to this day have a strong identity because they are a largely a distinct ethnic group. While the original Quebecois did emigrate from France, the women who colonized Quebec had a huge birthrate of 5.6. With little immigration after the 1760 "The population of New France ... was almost wholly a native born population and distinctly Canadian." SOURCE

The English speaking population of Canada, while more reliant on immigration is still defined by common ancestry. Nearly all of the non-francophone immigrants came from the British Isles or the British colonies in America. In fact the largest non-British immigrant group from 1760-1815 was Germans with a measly 1500. SOURCE

You are correct that I have no right to choose the credentials that determine who is what nationality. However, Nations are and have always been defined by heritage, by DNA. I hope my assumption, that you support cultural nationalism by rejection of heritage, is correct and I will continue as if that is the case.

Lets assume that only culture defines a nation and that everyone who behaves Canadian is Canadian. Certainly is uncontroversial to assert that a person's personality influences their behavior. Well behavior is, in no small part heritable SOURCE. At the very least I hope you can see that ethnicity, nationality, DNA have an impact on culture. If you take into account that the environment a child is raised in is chosen by their parents, then the effect of DNA on culture compounds.

If you insist that only culture defines nations please answer this: If Nations are defined by culture and values, what values should Justin Bieber adopt to become Chinese?

I'm pointing out history.

I'm not sure what part of that you need me to 'prove', but it's all easily available on the internet or in your public library.

Heck, here's a good start for you, if you're interested.

It would be useful for /u/KEKconfusa as well, to try to get him to break out of all of that non-stop NPC messaging.

It has some very useful guidelines, if you're interested in protecting democracy against fear-mongering demagoguery.

Wait this is actually a thing? Oh good god. I may be wrong but doesn't most of the democratic world have a similar system where a party can be elected with a majority? In fact the first government ever elected in Canada was a majority! It certainly wasn't and still isn't a one party state.

Best read it in their own words.

https://www.amazon.ca/Plymouth-Plantation-William-Bradford/dp/0486452603

Go read this and come back and we'll debate your short sightedness and misplaced beliefs.

Edit - Here's your peaceful point in history proof.

seek help

https://np.reddit.com/r/depression/

https://np.reddit.com/r/Anger/

https://www.amazon.ca/12-Rules-Life-Antidote-Chaos/dp/0345816021

read The Image by Daniel Boorstin. It's been like this for quite a while...

You should probably just read some short books if you want to get a base understanding of economics.

Here's the first one

https://www.liberalstudies.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Economics-in-One-Lesson_2.pdf

https://www.amazon.com/Economics-One-Lesson-Shortest-Understand/dp/0517548232/#customerReviews

And here's a follow-up full of contrarianism that you (really anyone) should find thought-provoking.

https://mises.org/library/defending-undefendable

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0802068197/ref=as_li_tf_il?ie=UTF8&tag=allthipoe-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0802068197

I bought my father in law this one:

https://www.amazon.ca/Justin-Trudeau-Canadian-Boyfriend-Calendar/dp/0789333848

He threw it at me and tried to chase me out of his house.

I think it was this book

Intelligent individuals are more likely to use drugs

Noam Chomsky simply pointed out that the events of 9/11 resulted from US Imperialism -- not some, "they hate our freedom" nonsense.

Osama Bin Laden was an ex-CIA operative who the US had used to pit Islamist extremists against the Soviets in Afghanistan. He specifically cited US foreign policy as his motivation for attacking the US.

The term "blowback" refers to retaliation for events the public is unaware of, so we can't contextualize them. 9/11 is a perfect example, because most Americans were unaware of US meddling in the Middle East, so they were easily fooled into believing Bin Laden attacked them because he "hates our freedom." Few stopped to consider the true cause, and so we never solved the problem.

See Chalmers Johnson's book, "Blowback" for a more in-depth analysis.

https://www.amazon.ca/Blowback-Cost-Consequences-American-Empire/dp/0805075593

A kids book? Why do they all look middle eastern?

What about this:

https://www.amazon.com/Nappy-Dragonfly-Books-Carolivia-Herron/dp/0679894454

Remember the outrage about that one?

I’m reading White Settler Reserve about the Icelandic colony in Manitoba. After recruiting tens of thousands of Icelanders for the farming and fishing industry, Canada changed the rules and moved their train station 100’s of miles south. The Icelanders couldn’t get their products to market and after a series of natural disasters began to starve. Canada’s responses? “Maybe you’re not the type of hard working people we need in this country.” Many moved to the US as a result.

So Canada has a history of backstabbing the people that work the hardest all the way up to the Japanese in the 40’s. Something is amiss with our governance.

(https://www.amazon.ca/White-Settler-Reserve-Colonization-Canadian/dp/0774831596/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1539704930&sr=8-1&keywords=White+settler+reserve)

> Studies suggest that vast numbers of people who are presently employed full-time already do nothing - adminbeast
https://www.reddit.com/r/canada/comments/4mq2kv/why_the_swiss_voted_no_80_to_a_guaranteed_basic/d3xfpjs

What 'study' would he be quoting?

http://www.amazon.com/Mythology-Work-Capitalism-Persists-Despite/dp/0745334865

> There was once a time when ‘work’ was inextricably linked to survival and self-preservation; where the farmer ploughed the land so their family could eat. But the sun has long since set on this idyllic tableau, and what was once an integral part of life has slowly morphed into a painful and meaningless ritual, colonising almost every part of our lives - endless and inescapable. In The Mythology of Work, Peter Fleming examines how neoliberal society uses the ritual of work (and the threat of its denial) to maintain the late capitalist class order. As our society is transformed into a factory that never sleeps, work becomes a universal reference point for everything else, devoid of any moral or political worth. Blending critical theory with recent accounts of job related suicides, office-induced paranoia, fear of relaxation, managerial sadism and cynical corporate social responsibility campaigns, Fleming paints a bleak picture of neoliberal capitalism in which the economic and emotional dysfunctions of a society of wage slaves greatly outweigh its professed benefits.


Thing is I like Basic Income. If we actually closed down all social services and instead simply cut a check we could then cut the basic income amount and effectively kill both. We would be able to fire countless civil servants and eliminate countless moronic government departments.