Right out of the gate in the 2011 federal election, the Harper campaign has managed to frame the terms of debate as the threat of a "coalition." The media are largely giving the Conservatives a pass on this, allowing them to repeat the "Big Lie" as though it were true. With "coalition" now read pejoratively (21 times in one of Harper's media cross-nation opportunities on March 28), too many Canadians are ignorant of the fact that coalitions are not illegitimate, unparliamentary, or unconstitutional. Coalitions do, however, require elected members to work collaboratively rather than with the toxic opposition the Conservatives have demonstrated.
apathy
Rebuilding democracy, from the community up
As many writers and activists have declared for some time now, Canadians -- and citizens in all English-speaking developed countries -- are facing a crisis in democracy. Another way of putting it is that we face a democratic deficit. That term harkens back to a book written 35 years ago called the Crisis in Democracy, commissioned by the Trilateral Commission (TLC), an international neo-liberal forum of CEOs, former and current heads of state and free market academics. The crisis they were talking about was different. As Samuel Huntington, a prominent American neo-liberal wrote in the book, there was "an excess of democracy." Too many people were asking governments for too many things -- and, even more dangerous, beginning to believe they were entitled to them.
Making change from the bottom-up
What happens when the political becomes personal? Then who has the power?
Does Stephen Harper because he's our prime minister? For sure. Does Oprah Winfrey because she's a billionaire media celebrity who likes to share her political views and ideas? Yep, she's got some sway. How about ordinary citizens who come together to champion certain causes, or try to tackle certain socio-economic problems? Do they have any political power? Darn right they do. And they're what Maker Culture politics is all about. People, united in cause, working together to spread a message and set changes in action.
Whether at the local, provincial, national or global level, examples of Maker Culture politics are everywhere.
London Activism: Empowerment Infoshop
The death of public hope
Hope is indispensable in public and private life. I don't mean brainless optimism in the face of facts. I mean hope that finds a way to persist in honest awareness of how bad things are.
Take the economy. Everyone knows that the disaster of 2008, which has clearly not gone away, had nothing to do with excess government spending. It had/has to do with other things: loss of good jobs; wage stagnation; jumps in consumer debt to cover the losses; "financialization"; fraud; greed; lack of oversight -- blah blah blah. Any rise in deficits came mainly from bailouts to banks, or needless war-making. The point is: The catastrophe had/has no connection to government social or economic spending. Yet the only solutions proposed everywhere are public spending cuts.
Opportunity is knocking for political change
It's often said that Stephen Harper is playing with the politics of fear. But even more profoundly, political players on both sides are lulling Canadians to sleep with an utterly false sense of security.
Harper likes to boast about the country's great economic fundamentals, but anyone who has looked at the price of gas today knows that we are definitely not okay.
We're already feeling energy inflation ramping up with every trip to the grocery store, and there's no ceiling in sight.
Republican-inspired populist politics is going places we compassionate Canadians never imagined.
And Mayor Rob Ford is showing how it's done. Five months after sweeping into office, Ford has cleaned out the city's cupboards, and soon the furniture will be out the door.
Hoping for opposition co-operation
In December 2008, there was an electrifying moment in Canadian politics as the opposition parties threw away their usual scripts and boldly formed a coalition to prevent Stephen Harper's Conservatives from doing further damage to the Canadian social fabric.
When Harper responded by pressuring the Governor General into shutting down Parliament, thereby denying the opposition the chance to defeat his government, there were demonstrations across the country.
Yet now, with this same Conservative wrecking crew apparently poised to win a majority, there appears to be widespread apathy.
![Murray Dobbin](http://rabble.ca/sites/rabble/files/imagecache/thumbnail/category_pictures/murray dobbin.jpg "Murray Dobbin is a guest senior contributing editor for rabble.ca. Murray has been a journalist, broadcaster, author and social activist for 40 years. A board member and researcher with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, he has written five studies for the centre including examinations of charter schools, and "Ten Tax Myths." Murray has been a columnist for the Financial Post and Winnipeg Free Press and contributes guest editorials to the Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star and other Canadian dailies. He writes a regular "State of the Nation" column for the on-line journal theTyee.ca which is published simultaneously on rabble.ca.
Murray has written five books, including critical profiles of Preston Manning, Kim Campbell and Paul Martin. His "The Myth of the Good Corporate Citizen" has been described as a citizens' guide to globalization. He has also prepared radio documentaries for the CBC Radio's Ideas series on subjects including taxes, human rights and the right-wing regime in New
Zealand.
A long time social activist Murray has been involved in many movements from the anti-nuclear movement, to the fights against so-called free trade and public private partnerships. He is the founder of Word Warriors, a project which co-ordinates letter-writing to the editorial pages of newspapers across Canada. He is a Senior Advisor to the Rideau Institute on International Affairs.")
Dave Meslin on 'redefining apathy'
At TEDxToronto Dave Meslin argues that apathy as we think we know it doesn't exist -- we live in a world that actively discourages engagement. Video by TEDx Talks.