I have something to say about the election coming up in Toronto. In order to say it in a way that can be grasped I need to lay out some context. This means introducing some concepts which will cause many heads to explode.
Unlike many bloggers, I am not in the business to make money telling people what they want to hear, helping them to confirm their biases. I tell people what needs to be said. Thus, while I do not encounter any overt censorship, I do not get great numbers of readers.
Toronto people with any brain at all do not need me to tell them that their city government is totally dysfunctional. Most will be aware that there is no way to fix anything before there is a complete breakdown. Conditions in the city will continue to deteriorate.
The big problem is that there is no consensus on what the real problem is and how to fix it. Everyone has their own idea about it, usually not well grounded in reality. Grounding things in reality is what I am good at.
But what will this have to do with the October 17 election? I may seem to be saying that voting will be a waste of time. If you expect that any change of elected officials will reverse the dysfunction and decline in local government, then it will be a waste of time for you.
However, there are other reasons to vote. I have discussed these in my recent blogs the latest federal and provincial elections. What you want is to get a good local representative.
This does not mean that ‘representative democracy’ is a good thing. It is not really democracy at all; it is oligarchy. This is a big theme of mine, which I will discuss further below.
But, especially in the less privileged areas of the city, it is important to get a good councilor. First, he/she will have the ombudsman or intervener function. Second, she/he will be able to steer needed resources to the neighborhoods.
There is another good reason to cultivate good representatives. They have shown themselves to have the leadership skills which will be needed to finally create real change. They can organize and motivate people, and raise funds.
Thus local councilors are probably more useful than members of federal or provincial parliaments. They operate independently of any party structure. This is one reason why reactionary politicians hate them and try to reduce their numbers.
So it is good to get a left progressive councilor into office. Even a moderate conservative, of the kind who are fundamentally socialist but do not realize it, would be a good councilor. However, no one should be under any illusion that any councilor can have any effect outside of her/his riding.
But what is the use of mayoral candidates? A really good, socially progressive mayor would be helpful for reasons similar to a good councilor. However, she/he would be restricted by the government whose rules and restrictions he/she must work within.
Thus, there is usually a reason to go and mark an X on voting day. Or, if you are able, to contribute a few dollars or some time. But you should not expect that voting is going to have any positive change on the system of government, or reverse the decline we are experiencing.
Therefor, one of the themes I will continue to pound on in my bloggings is the need for a complete reconstruction of institutions in Canada. That means, effectively, a revolution, because there is no way to achieve this reconstruction through the existing system. As we are in an advanced country in the decade of the 2020s, this concept should not be seen as particularly radical.
Alas, not many people are really thinking clearly about how to fix the present mess. People generally feel there should be more democracy, but they do not really understand what a democracy is. People are locked into the representational model of government which, I repeat, is oligarchy, not democracy.
There is a lack of good models for really democratic government, even at the local level. There are reasons for that; oligarchy obviously has an interest in preventing discussion of alternatives to itself. They like promoting electoral reform ideas as though these are actual solutions, rather than mere tweakings of failing systems.
However, it is not hard to understand what a good government would look like in Toronto. We need the subordinate levels back, the boroughs, the “Six.” New members can join Toronto from the “905” areas as they choose. If Toronto became truly autonomous from the province, most will soon want to.
The idea of Toronto becoming effectively a province of its own is, of course, intensely suppressed. Yet there is no option to this if government in Toronto, or the rest of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) is to be organized in a logical way, so as to be able to properly provide services. Of course, autonomy for GTA will mean the end of Ontario, but it needs to disappear anyway.
As with any obvious and necessary reform, there are infinite reasons why it cannot be done. Cities are ‘creatures of the provinces’, except they are actually not. All it would take to actuate an autonomous Toronto would be a written constitution for Ontario, spelling out the rights and powers of local government.
Of course, all this would be resisted to the bitter end by the elites in control of the province. They would be supported by national and global networks determined to prevent any outbreak of real democracy anywhere. So it would be a very hard battle.
Yet this has been done and is being done in many countries. It is not going to be done in Canada until it has been done in most places in the western world. Canada just does not do ‘hard’.
But in most places, including Canada, serious socializing and democratizing of institutions would require a global breakdown of capitalism. Then a well organized and focused revolutionary movement would have to be developed.
Such movements are now coming together pretty quick in many places in the world. There are even some first stirrings of it in Canada. But there is one big problem.
This is, unfortunately, that in most western countries these movements are not being led from the left. These are mostly right wing groupings, organized by elements in the industrialist, nationalist wing of the ruling classes. Some of these people are outright fascistic, others more moderate and attuned to real life needs of people.
In most of the western world, and especially in Canada, the left has totally failed. It has mostly been coopted into the globalist propagated ‘woke’ and ‘climate’ nonsense. A serious left is only recently starting to reemerge.
Authentic left people, interested in maintaining democracy and social provisions, need for now to make alliances with whatever moderate conservatives they can find. Right now, these are being shoved aside by the more radical conservatives described above, who have the upper hand in Toronto and Ontario, and much of Canada, at the moment. Thus, these moderate conservatives are open to forming alliances with the pragmatic left.
The general pattern which seems to be developing in the world is that old ‘liberal’ governments built around financial capitalism and globalism are falling apart. Right wing governments based on industrial capitalism and local oligarchs are taking over. However, these are proving incapable of governing, and are making a terrible mess wherever they are in power.
The path is opening for moderate left/right coalitions. That is, of people who are more interested in a functioning government and economy, than in ideology or in interest protecting behavior. The usual problem with such people is with identifying the real problem and the real solutions.
The best of these people are starting to wrap their heads around the need for better models of economic organization, and of democratic governance. The problem is that good models are not readily available. Elites with an interest in keeping things as they are make sure of that.
Thus we need to put effort into looking at what people all over the world are doing, in the face of similar problems. Especially, we need to look to the developing world, where many strong left progressive movements for change are starting to have an effect. Canadians are finally starting to lose the “what is, is all that can be” mentality, which will be essential to progress.
A clear idea of a good post capitalist order is starting to come together. It seems to be the same everywhere. An important element is that cities must become the most important level of government, because that is where most people are going to live.
Real democracies need to be developed. This is coming to mean, an epistemic democracy, meaning a “truth tracking” democracy, where a randomly selected citizen’s assembly determines the truth of a topic and sets policy accordingly. It is becoming a hot subject.
It entails the elimination of politicians and political parties, as well as the idea of “news media”. Properly qualified people are appointed to run the various governmental functions, and their performance is monitored. An honest information culture is developed.
The truth is that the means of making these changes are not yet available. We are going to go through a bad period. The good citizens of Toronto are going to have to cope with bad government for some time, while working to put together the basis for a better government.
The first problem with accomplishing necessary change is that there is no agreement as to what needs to change. Then there is the lack of agreement about how to go about forcing change. This does not mean that it is not reasonably clear as to what needs to change and how to do it.
I have adequately described what change is needed. How to change it is a more delicate subject. It will require revolution and nobody should expect that this will be accomplished without some level of violence at some point.
This topic needs to be discussed in a different medium than this. It should only be pointed out that there is a considerable body of scientific study about what popular uprisings are most likely to succeed. The first thing is to have a single clear and achievable demand.
Violent actions almost always fail and are attacked by government forces. Non violent actions also will usually fail and be attacked. Those which do not initiate violence but will fight back if attacked are most likely to succeed and not be attacked.
This information will confound ideologies ranging from Ghandian nonviolence to revolutionary anarchism. None of these ideologies will be very useful in achieving structural reform in the GTA.
There will be no consensus about what the goal is or how to achieve it. Thus, people who are non ideological but can commit to acting for change will need to simply get on with it.
So, get out and vote, Toronto, but be careful about who you vote for. We have the problem of politicians talking progressive and voting reactionary on council. Do some research.
Look at who is endorsing each candidate. Look at what kind of people they have in their offices and campaign organizations. Progressive politicians are usually good workers for their wards and vice versa.
But to reiterate, voting will change nothing. We have decades of experience of the right wing establishment using the province to kick over the table whenever there is some danger of a progressive government becoming established in Toronto.
Increasingly, as conditions deteriorate, there will not be a decent candidate to vote for. Fewer people are running, for good reasons. If there really is nothing to vote for, and you are very principled about it, you could ‘spoil the ballot’ by indicating, in whatever way you choose, that you reject all of the candidates.
In this election, there is clearly no useful candidate for mayor. The incumbent is an empty suit. The other candidates are attention seekers who should not be encouraged.
To conclude, to be in favor of a revolution to end capitalism and create locally based authentic democracies seems to be going mainstream. This does not mean that you ignore electoral politics. However, you should focus most of your limited time, energy, and money on bringing about a better way.
You might enjoy this speech by Michael Hudson here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNYaClUW6-0
transcript: https://michael-hudson.com/2022/07/the-end-of-western-civilization/
In short, I think you're right, we are probably on the long decline in the West and headed into stagflation and polarization