A manifesto for change. But not too much.

You know it.

I know it.

Something is stopping us from saying what we really feel.

This is my modest attempt at changing that. I will say what I want, and am thankful for this forum for my many pontifications. I would be very happy if you argued with me, congratulated me, or, even better, paid me.

By the way, those of you without a sense of humour may as well get your coats and leave right now. And to think, I gave you a beer when you came in the door. Well, I am at least a gentleman, so I will let you drink-up before you leave. If you don't appreciate the occasional sledgehammer sarcasm in these pages then go away and watch some average TV and eat your boneless unseasoned chicken breasts.

Anyway, this is not really the start I wanted to make. This is supposed to a somewhat serious blog about politics, society, and culture. And economics. And war. And sport. And beer. To differing extents, although if it's at all possible to get all of these subjects in one post then giddy-up.

So, to start. A few random statements to provide some context to the musings to come. I should note at this stage that I do not pretend that my views are set in stone. I take the sage advice of John Maynard Keynes in this regard. If you don't know what I mean you shouldn't be reading this blog since you are not good enough for me...sorry, I mean I would only hurt you in the future...no…it's not you, it’s me...

So, to basics. I live in Canada. I am an immigrant here. I was born and bred in a bizarre little country called England, and in this blog I will often comment upon the state of that nation. Of course, the particularly enlightened among my esteemed readership (and the particularly pedantic - I think I like you already) will note that England is not a country at all, but part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. I would rather say that it is now an outpost of the most misunderstood - and dangerous - political unit to have developed since the Second World War. I speak of the European Union.

But let's start with Canada. In many ways it is a marvellous country. A place where the innocent are unlikely to be dragged from their beds at night by the agents of authoritarian government. This is not to be taken lightly, although most Canadians have a nebulous notion of their liberty and how it came about, a strain of argument I will return to often.

Canada is also a land of immense paradox. Its domestic politics are unfathomable to the outsider. Seemingly benign waters on the surface, but underneath lies a torrent of contradictions and grievances waiting to explode. I will go into details in later posts of course, on such issues as separatism, immigration, multiculturalism, political correctness, economic cartels, and smugness. Make of that what you will.

As for my general underlying philosophies, I'm not sure I have any. Well of course I do, but let’s discover them as we go along.

I despise ignorance in all forms. However, I happen to believe that most people on the planet don't have enough time to really think about their situation and have not been educated sufficiently to perceive of the realities of the world around them. Yes, that probably makes me an intellectual snob. But you know it's true. Take a look around in the mall or on the bus or train. You know a lot of them couldn't spell "PhD" let alone tell you what it means.

A corollary to this is that even intelligent people are too busy making ends meet to really consider the kind of things we will discuss here. Until the development of the blog that is. Perhaps this blog can go some way to recreating those philosophical rambling conversations that many of us enjoyed during our university days.

I am neither left nor right. I actually don’t think these labels are very useful, or ever were really.

I am for freedom, which does mean, for example, that I support the right for people to own private property. This is no minor point, it is absolutely fundamental in the difference between free-market capitalism and Communism. Darn, I guess I just lost the Marxists out there. Please, stick with me for a while – at least until you decide I am just another capitalist swine.

However, I believe unfettered capitalism (especially of a global nature) is even more dangerous than Communism. History tells us that an accumulation of power always leads to negative results.

I am not a huge fan of religion. I see the role it has in keeping the unwashed masses down and pliable, and this is rather useful in itself. However, I can't help but think that anyone who ascribes things to 'faith' alone (I don't really care which brand of religion is your thing) can't really be trusted to have a sound opinion about anything.

On a related matter, I am quite a big fan of the European Enlightenment. What an achievement for a continent riven with conflict and religious dogma to suddenly decide to collectively think "bugger this nonsense, let's give science and rationality a crack instead, see where that takes us". It took Europe to the top of the evolutionary tree. It's no coincidence, and utterly irrefutable, that all the best things in scientific, social, political, cultural, and economic matters have come out of Europe since.

Imperial arrogance? Nonsense, just the plain truth. I don't see why a Frenchman or an Englishman should bow and scrape and consider his culture to be at all relative to the head-shrinking nutter in the jungle. This is where the tricky subject of multiculturalism gets rather nasty, so we better leave that one until later. Suffice to say, I believe Canada's multicultural experiment (not how you usually heard it described, but I think it's apt) is a potential road to disaster.

I am an enthusiastic reader of military history and follower of current military affairs. However, I am finding myself tending to believe that 'war is a racket'. One can admire the heroic achievements of those people who sacrifice themselves to protect their country from oblivion, such as the millions of Soviet citizens (I must admit I just got a frisson of enjoyment out of writing the word 'Soviet') who gave their lives in the fight against German fascism. But I find it altogether more difficult to rejoice in the memory of a volunteer soldier killed while 'on duty' in someone else’s country without an invitation.

I support capital punishment. I happily endorse draconian measures to the problems of law & order we see affecting our lives more and more in many Western societies. No, that doesn't mean cutting-off peoples hands, but rather simply the old-fashioned view that prison should be very unpleasant and the 'rights' of the convicted criminal should be attended to last rather than first. The do-gooder brigade - usually led by white middle-class women - have brought nothing but spiralling criminality and unprecedented recidivism. Their experiment with our society needs to stop.

Here's another thing. I don't really like governments that much. I don't trust them. No, not in a hoarding-cans-of-tuna-and-high-powered-automatic-weapons-in-the-basement kinda way. Just that it seems to me to be the height of folly to place more than an ounce of trust in any powerful organisation. One really has to just pick any random history book off the shelf to realise that the chief abuser of 'us' - the people - has been our own governments.

I like the saying “people shouldn’t be afraid of their government – their government should be afraid of their people”. Revolution is not necessarily a bad thing ya know. Sometimes a society is so screwed-up, the only thing to do is to rip it up and start again. Lenin had it right on that one. There, I told you Marxists to hang-on in there.

Well, enough of this opening drivel. I haven't touched upon many issues I would have liked, but heck there ya go. I guess this blog will be like free-form jazz. Only hopefully less painful. And way less annoying, and (slightly) less pompous.

Let's just all agree to not mention free-form jazz ever again. Ta.