When the weather is this cold, you tend to stay in, drink tea and think about stuff.  All sorts of stuff.  Of course, I could let my mind turn to politics but there is so little satisfaction to be had there.  And so I will…………but just for a bit……….

Firstly, I have a confession: I called Jane Sterk, head of the provincial Greens and said, “I have this idea that the Greens can actually get elected.  Maybe.  But it requires a radical change of strategy.  If you are open to that, I’ll come down to see you sometime.”  To her credit, she was nice, polite and willing to listen.  We’ll likely meet just before Christmas.  More on that as it unfolds.

I’ve also been thinking about the economy.  How is it working?  You know, ‘pump it full of ‘bailout’ money and hope that, like a bump-start, the engine kicks back in’.  But has it?  I think not. 

If any reader has ever bump-started a car, the analogy holds – the engine is forced to run by the momentum of the car pushing it, and it eventually catches and takes over.  But I have had a number of cars in my life that needed that sort of treatment now and then and sometimes the bump-start method fails.  In fact, the bump-start method is usually just a harbinger of much worse things to come.  When you are down to the bump-start, the car is likely on it’s last legs.  And I am thinking our economic system is in just such a state.   

Bump-starts only work if there is spark and fuel.  If there is no spark or fuel, there is no start-and-run. In this sense the ‘consumer’ is the fuel.  And they seem to be absent in the market place in droves these days.  Consumer debt – even in Canada – is at an all-time high and so we are simply not buying so much anymore – certainly not the BIG items. 

Neither are the Yanks.  Americans are still losing their homes and declaring bankruptcy by the millions.  The average employee in North America, working or not, is struggling to make ends meet and, with a huge component of the population (baby-boomers) soon entering retirement, the appetite for stuff is just going to naturally wan even further.  So there is no fuel.  At least not in North America.  Not like before.

Bottom line: the gas gauge reads close to empty. 

‘Spark’ without fuel is a waste.  But is there even ‘spark?’  In this sense, ‘spark’ is innovation, drive, ambition, creativity, new markets.  And, in that sense, I think there is some.  Not a lot.  But some.  But is the ‘spark’ in the right place?  I don’t think so. 

Some of the spark manifests in terrorism, urban gangs, Mexican drug wars and increased security, tasers and the rise of the police state.  These people are radically outside the system.  Or, radically inside.  But they are still reliant on the system staying the course.  They are ‘sparking’ but not in a good way.   

To be fair, we also get ‘Kindles’ and Iphones and entertainment crap but we are still buying food from Safeway and cars from dealerships.  More of the same.  It just feels as if the economy is trying to get back on it’s feet wearing the same old shoes.  Same old clothes.  And saying the same old things.  The economy feels ‘old’.  And, for this, I blame institutions, politics and all the ‘systems’ that we have held to so dearly.  Even the American dream has wrinkles.  It all seems so ‘old’.

Some of this may be projection on my part.  I admit to that.  I’m getting old.    

But government seems especially old.  Government is so ‘old’ to most people they either vote from habit (like old geezers) or they don’t bother to get out of their house to exercise their franchise (like old geezers). 

Face it, the system just ain’t sexy no mo’.  

‘Getting ahead’ was sexy for awhile – pre 2008.  Now it seems futile to many these days.  Greed was such a driving force for such a long time.  But those that succeeded at that game are 60 or fast approaching it and those that did not succeed are way ‘out of reach’ still.  Young people, even those working and earning what seems to be a good wage ($60K) are still not able to buy even a cheap condo.  Vancouver’s Olympic Village, projected to lose millions, is still too expensive to sell to young people seeking homes in the city.  So, how is that going to work?

It is not going to.

And that is part of my thinking – acceptance of the BIG mistake.  We’ve done a lot right in this the modern era, but we have also done a lot wrong.  We have to accept that.  It’s not hard.  I think ‘screwing up’ is pretty normal, actually.  Much more normal and a larger part of life than we normally imagine.  We tend to think we do nine out of ten things right and, ‘oops’, there is that one thing that got away.  I don’t think so.  In fact, I think we err more than we get it right.  I do, anyway.   

First off, I think we, as a society, repeat the mistakes of the past.  Big time.  And look at that history!  It’s bloody scary.  And the period from 1900 to 2000 is scarier than most. 

Secondly, I think we err at a higher frequency than we admit to but we can usually recover quickly when it is at an individual or small group level.  That kind of ‘recovery’ is a common trait of people but not of the institutions they create.  Or the ones they work for.  Governments, corporations, even religions are just not flexible.  They don’t ‘adapt’ (the very quality that made the Homo Sapien successful).  In other words, I think individuals will find answers, institutions won’t.

But we keep investing in BIG!

Ergo: Big is out.  We have to look away from government, corporations and institutions.  Now is the time to NOT listen to what they say.  Now is the time to do the right thing as you see it.  Put bluntly: our current leaders are wrong.    

Real, innovative, leaders seem to come out of the blue.  And they do.  They come from outside the system.  They are truly free thinkers.  Contrarians, to be sure.  But more than just contrary, they are creative and visionary.  They are innovative.  They are different. 

Appointed, elevated, respected and ‘graduated-from-the-system’ leaders are not leaders at all.  They are followers, sheep who have ‘drunk the Kool-Aid’.  They say what we want them to say, lead where we want them to lead and do what we expect them to do.  They are, for the most part, useless as leaders.  And now that it is not working anymore, they are useless as icons.   

So, here’s my thought:  If you are ever going to step out of line, now is the time.  If you are ever going to rage against the machine, begin flailing today.  If you are ever going to stand up and get counted as the power of one, seize the moment!

We need that kind of input.   

I now live amongst the most eccentric of people.  They are colourful. They are different. They are contrary.  And they are very, very independent.  And, you know what?  They are also happy.  They are successful in their ways and they do no harm.  These days, I am pretty pleased to be following their lead.  It seems to be working for me.