Government.
By the People.
Of the People.
For the People.
Politics: the 
issues
I'm a magna cum laude 5-time university graduate. I had to often worked full-time while attending University full-time. I spent my first 13 years in a French-Canadian working-class lumber camp at Nassau Lake, just 30 miles west of Hearst, 10 miles past the dirt road that takes you up to the native reserve of Calstock off the TransCanada Highway in Northern Ontario.
(I spent nine years in the Senate of Canada on Parliament Hill : first as Senate Page, rose to the rank of Chief Page, and then moved on to being Senate messenger all the while studying full-time at the University of Ottawa. The highlight of my messenger career was organizing all four Senate vaults: each was used as a dumping storage area. No one previously had been able to do it: I did. Whoppee!)
My grandfather, Henry Selin (pronounced: say'lean), ( or commonly referred to in French as "vieux bonhomme Seline", an endearing French expression that translates "good Old Man Selin") came from Sweden in his teenage years just after World War I.
While one brother became a school janitor in Sault Ste. Marie and his other brother became a highway-grader in Geralton (another place on the TransCanada highway in North-Western Ontario), he transformed his family farm into an 18-hole golf course in the Sault (i.e. Sault Ste. Marie - just across from Sault, Michigan).
He sold it to become a jobber (a lumberjack cutting lumber on a contractual basis) just west of Hearst. He also earned a lot of money building bridges across the fastest flowing rivers there for the Railroad. As a result he was able to set himself up in the timber business that by the early 1960s was technologically 10 years ahead of its time.
His success truly represents the North American Dream that has drawn many peoples from different shores to North America where the streets were believed to be paved with gold. Then again, many a poor Irishman thought the same of England. (Aye, I have only a wee bit of Irish in me and it comes out everyone once and awhile : you see, it just gets the best of me.)
My Dad was vice-president of his Dad's company, Henry Selin Forest Products. In 1965 he had a fatal car accident on November 13th. Unfortuanely for us, his insurance policy had expired on the 12th and his new one was due to kick-in on November 15th. He left my Mom had seven children and only a grade eight education. (For more details visit my K+plus website.)
The Issues
A. Social Policy
1. HONESTLY, we do have to follow the Scandinavian lead in providing A FAIR SOCIAL SYSTEM so people do not needlessly despair and turn to drugs and crime. Everyone there is automatically entitled to six weeks holidays. (Here, everyone gets three weeks and calls in sick for another three weeks in the year risking losing their jobs.) Did you know that Swedes can even refuse work if it is thought to be psychologically damaging? That's an eye opener, isn't it?
The Russian President, Boris Yeltsin, said that Russia will use Sweden as its model.
Why can't we?
1. Overworking people, extending working hours wantonly, and not paying people "fair wages" is SLAVERY whether it be in the HI-TECH SECTOR or elsewhere.
You pay PEANUTS!
And what do you get ?
Yep, MONKEYS, the beer guzzling kind.
1. The minimum wage should be DOUBLED
if not tripled. This would have the economic benefit of putting more money back into the economy, increasing consumer confidence , and giving hope to the poor.
d. Crime
1. Crime is often the result of hopelessness and misfortune. It's perpetrators are victimes of society and should NOT be victimized time and again in Soviet-style quality-production oriented mega-prisons.
2. The prison, judicial system, and correctional services cannot be allowed to become cancerous industries feeding off the travails of the less fortunate in society.
3. Compassion and understanding with the possibility of quick rehabilitation should be the desired goal when sentencing someone and not punishment per se. The scandinavian approach and ideally the "Native North American" approach of reconciling both parties in a comunal setting over a period of time could be a very profitable healing approach.
4. Fighting crime has too often been a good guy versus bad guy scenario with the good guys getting" to justifiably (?*?*?) beat up" on the bad guys to get their addictive high from their violent behavior.
Let's not forget that Christianity started with the repeated jailing of the apostles. According to Christian theology no one is guilt free: we are all guilty to some degree. No one can cast the first stone.
On the one hand, the jailhouse serves as a reminder to Christians of their spiritual condition prior to baptism and on the other the unfair treatment of humanity.
Today we know the benefits of long term incarceration are nil, so why give long sentences?
Long term incarceration only wastes money and creates a lot of resentment and fear in a System that is there to serve and not to terrify. No one merits leading a life of dread of in-house brand of terror behind bars where often men are pitted against men and liars run the show.
Where there is an abuse of institutional power, "truth" is sacrifice. Who can have confidence in such a dehuman, demeaning, and boorish system?
People who are incarcerated need help, not brutality and repeated admissions of guilt as a reminder of their circumstance.
Christians are reminded by the New Testament that have a moral obligation and responsibility to reach out to the incarcerated who are like us in humanity if they expect Christ to reach out to them.
Not just "criminels", we all have to learn to be repentent to some extent. I cannot enter a confessional thinking I'm innocent.
At Easter time we are presented the image of three men on crosses: one is an innocent Jew, one is a repentent criminal, and one couldn't care less having lost his youthful belief in a fair world. But yet, though all three are supposedly equally guilty criminals, the contrast in their attitude suggests this is not true.
Society has been unjust again in the sentencing of these three and in sentencing in general as many an innocent man has been found guilty because he looked guilty or had a "guilty profile" and was processed as if he were.
We have only to think of how our own Native North American
population (not to mention the working poor) has been almost systematically found guilty in Court because they were not adequately defended for whatever reason allowing the prosecution to blindly have its way and by so doing becoming a kangaroo court of sorts.
5. Yes, the systemic abusing of men and women, "supposed" criminals, while in incarceration is unjustifiable and horrific.
No criminal, no human being, deserves to be abused at anytime.
Any abuse is an offence against not only the inherent dignity of the person, but also a crime against all of humanity.
6. The sad fact is that many people are found to be guilty by The System simply because they had a "guilty profile " and/or were NOT adequately defended. The film, "My Cousin Vinny", brings this out very dramatically.
The System gets fat by amply feeding itself with unsuspecting victimes with which it justifies its call for greater allocation of public resources to fight crime: more judges, more police persons, more megaprisons, more cruisers, more ammo ... more ... more ... more and so the cancer grows, the resentment grows. Who wins? Society? Or the incarceration system? Does the system give so-called criminal a chance to reform themselves and give themselves a better life creating a win-win situation for the person and society? Not as things stand in North America. Major reforms are needed starting by testing the underlying premises of the criminal code and adjusting it to the result-oriented realities of today. We cannot and must not fail in this area of social reform if we are to have a healthy and sane society with a sound non-violent constitution.
7. It is a sad fact that innocent people are often obliged to plead guilty to get some sort of leniency from the System.
Is this "really" fair? Of course not.
8. Ensuring that a person is as quickly reintegrated back into society is more important than wasting all sorts of resouces in determining his "degree" of guilt and "forcing" an inquisitional style admission of guilt.
9. As a CHRISTIAN GESTALTIST, I'm horrified at how easy it is for the System to systematically and repeatedly abused anyone it pleases in its hands.
This unethical treatment of people is roundly condemned by the religious traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam where Man and Woman are seen to be created only a little less than the angels.
According to classical Christian thought Christ was gentle. He did not abuse anyone and we are to do as he did: NOT abuse.
Furthermore, Christians sincerely believe to abuse anyone is to abuse the very person of Christ himself as we learn from St. Paul's experience on the Road to Damascus. It is for that reason we are morally obligated to be our brother's keeper. (¿Somos todos hermanos, verdad?)
Besides this thinking has been the guiding Spirit of American Democracy.
10. Let 's replace the dirty, old Criminal Code as it is largely based on a vendictive puritanical spirit (common among the early colonies in North America) with one that emphasizes the need for forgiveness and comunal reciliation as is practiced by our Native American Peoples.
Besides, from the Christian perspective, life is always about getting and giving a second chance. How many times are we to forgive according to the Gospels? Can we expect a divine pardon if we ourselves are NOT willing to forgive? This notion of forgiveness constitutes the very essence and is at the very core of the only prayer Jesus taught personally, the "Our Father".
The movie, "Dead Man Walking" about the redemptive relationship of a nun and a death row guy was poignant. Did he have to die? Did he? An evil act is NEVER eradicated by the commission of another evil act in retaliation: Philosophy Course 101.
Logically, the death penalty is consequently morally wrong and therefore unquestionably unjustifiable unconditionally.
The death penalty calls into question the whole spirit behind the criminal code with the need for an amendment at least in the short term before being replaced with something less doctrinaire and more viable for all stakeholders.
The death penalty is not simply pernicious, but also serves as a pointing indictment against the moral standards of a society founded upon British judicial outdated traditions.
Unconsciously, it also serves as a reminder of the horrors of concentration camp life where people arbitrarily separated into groups that would lived or be disposed of according to State law and practice. As long as the death penalty and state sanctioned torture exist, humanity will continue to live on the edge Dante's inferno.
I suggest that as a founding principal of a new criminal code that after 10 years from the time a sentence has been purged, everyone should be given should be given automatic pardons.
Humanity now must learn to forgive divinely for God himself has forgiven Humanity by allowing his only Son to be sacrificed for the redemption of everyone.
11. Let's show our support and gratitude to our fireman, policemen, prison personnel, armed forces personnel, and the judiciary for making society work.
Let's thank and honour them whenever we get a chance. They are truly the real heros of today because they have to work in a system that is less than fair and far from perfect.
Let's make their vocation easier by ensuring that the laws are fair and that everyone is treated fairly.
12. Law and order should NOT be terrifying , but an open, honest, forgiving, brotherly, non-vindicative, and rehabillitative affair demonstrating an understanding of the human condition wherever the law needs to be applied.
The State exits to serve, NOT terrify.
e. The Family
The apparition at Fatima in Portugal (Nossa Senhora de Fatima, rogai por nós.) at the turn of this century was to remind humanity that sexuality is about having children. The Isalmic people to their credit have big families which I personally believe constitutes the glory of Islam. (By the way, Fatima was the daughter of the Prophet Mohammed, "Peace be upon him.")
About sexuality we should remember that the endomorphins constituting the sexual orgasm are the most potent natural drugs that make sexual contact between a husband and a wife an anticipated, eventful occasion with its inherent power to renew the couple's commitment to remain together and maintain a triving family.
Unfortunately outside the confines of marriage, sex can be used to abuse, control, and create dependence often within a reward and punishment kind of scenario where one party finds himself or herself in a hostage-like situation: this is the unpalatable stuff pronography is made of. This kind of "power" approach to life has no redeaming value.
Society now recognized that multiple sexual partners leads to the postponement of marriage, promiscuity, and very high repeated incidences of marital infidelity giving rise to a proliferation of stiptease joints and sex oriented holidays for greater neurotic self-indulging that creates a sense of lost of self with the onset of a sexual addiction that destructively feeds on itself.
In short, the pleasure principal can kill its victime's self esteem. This fact serves as a reminder that the pursuit of sensual, carnal pleasure cannot be the main course of life and that the greatest things in life are free and free from carnality: the beauty of giving birth, love, joy, song, dance, art, expressions of the spirit residing within, etc.
In Catholicism one is repeatedly reminded that the Holy Family was a place of great love and respect, but there was no sex: the Blessed Virgin Mary remained virgin and upon her death her uncorrupted body was assumend into Heaven due to the fact that she forever remained a consacrated virgin.
Really, it's true: no one dies from sexual abstinance and celibacy even in the Orient is considered the healthy norm for those not married.
European literature indicates that a truly macho man was morally obligated to marry a woman in whom he had awakened her sexual passion. (It was expected of him by society: it was part of the macho code.)
For contemporary society to encourage this incessant courting activity involving sexual contact in a continually repetitive fashion is to make believe that its members are entitled to forever expect a week of Sundays and creates a rut by keeping the individual from going forward to the next step: real commitment, marriage (yikes!!!), having a family (ouch!!!), and grandchildren (oh, yeh!!!). Do we really want to be in a continual state of mindless youthfulness (i.e. the great bod, no head ordeal with nothing to say). Thank God post-modernism is about getting involved and contributing to society putting aside the 500 year modernistic fetish of indulgent self-interest.
Are we missing the boat or what? Noah got on the Ark and was buoyed by the waters of life: he did not let the waters of life drown him.
Honestly, do we really start to live before the age of 40? Mother Teresa started on the path she's on after the age of 40. Many people took their first steps to fame after 40.
POST-modernism is about moving forward and beyond to the the mature howdy-doody, neighbourly level of maturity.
In the 60s we were looking for ourselves. Now after the fall of the Berlin Wall in mid-November 1989 and with the explosion of the NET at the very same time, GUESS WHAT? We've found ourselves: we may not know where we are in the great scheme of things, but we know who we are: people who want and need neighbours. So let's share who we are, our stories, life experiences, our hopes, what we like about life and people. Let's see the good in everyone and everyting. Children do it all the time.
No, everything is not a rip- off and life is good. Everyone can be a hero. Bad guys often just quit believing they could be a hero and become a vilain by default. There is greatness in the eyes of every person of both sexes especially the Moms and Dads of the World.
Do we alway have to be right? Do we have to know it all? Do we have to do it all? Heck, no. We would not need neighbours. We would be forever "loners". Interestingly, monotheistic belief regarding paradise is that it is a communal living arrangement.
Remember Father Abraham, welcomed strangers who turned out to be angels who were capable of giving him something he had always wanted: an heir. The scriptural message is that he or she who blesses another by welcoming him or her will be forever bless. Hence, his warm and hospitable welcome earned him a son, Isaac, and a grandson, Jacob from whom a Messiah was to come and save the world.
Thus by welcoming your neighbour your ensuring your own posterity and that of humanity.
So let today BE (as Mr. Rogers so fondly says to the girls and boys out in TV Land) "a beautiful day in the Neighbourhood." Why? Because you are you and it is.
GOD BLESS
AMERICA
THE BEAUTIFUL.
Nuestra señora de Guadalupe,
ruega por nosotros,
Updated: September 21, 1997
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