As long as I am running a truth/integrity-focused media company, I will not personally and publicly endorse any politician or political group. I will continue to focus on documenting facts to empower voters and policymakers with critical knowledge regarding the most important issues.
However, on occasion, I write opinion pieces about the political landscape.
Today, I am compelled to discuss what I believe to be the political harakiri being carried out by the left.
But, first, a little personal background to make it less likely that you dismiss this as a right-wing rant.
I have always considered myself socially liberal. Anyone who knows me well, knows that I am inclusive and hate-free.
Despite growing up in a Catholic family, I never believed that the Big Guy in the Sky would be ever so benevolent regarding most matters but condemn humans to eternity in an uncomfortably toasty place for certain failings. I remember considering that a preposterous notion in Grade 1, and it prevented me from ever believing in that particular god.
However, I would never say that Christians or folks of any other faith are wrong. Unfortunately, I have come across no valid data that either supports or refutes the existence of a supreme being … although Michael Jordan was pretty close in the 1990s.
A couple of decades ago, I was rooting for Jack Layton’s NDP to rise to power. I have always voted for integrity, and Jack seemed to have it in spades.
I have voted for the Liberal party – federally and provincially – several times in my lifetime. I backed another Jack in 1993 when my father was a candidate for the Alberta Liberal party.
I have also voted for Conservative parties, but I have never called myself a “Conservative”, or a “Liberal”, and I never will. I have always preached to my children that it is important to make politicians earn your vote. Every time.
Yet, I have been called “right wing” and a “Conservative” countless times since launching BIG-Media.ca two years ago this week.
It seems that, nowadays, when you speak truth about such issues as COVID-19 and climate change – even when supported by government data and verifiable facts – one is branded by far too many on the left side of the political spectrum as a “right-wing nut” or “conspiracy theorist”.
Back to the political harakiri, the Democrats in the U.S., the Liberals and NDP in Canada, the Labour Party in New Zealand, and many other left-leaning parties around the globe hitched their trailers in recent years to COVID and climate-change alarmism. They saw widespread fear, an easily manipulated populace, and they ran with it.
For a couple of years, it looked like a wise move. The popularity that came with the combination of public hysteria and virtue signalling seemed unstoppable.
Emotional, often tear-filled announcements of COVID and climate death were met with soaring approval ratings.
No one seemed to be worried about context.
When politicians announced that millions were dying with COVID around the globe, there was almost never any mention that the majority of the deaths were among elderly with multiple comorbidities, nor that the risk of a severe outcome to healthy people was very small.
When politicians spoke of a “climate catastrophe”, there was a similar dearth of perspective. Public statements condemning the oil and gas industry earned plenty of votes from the ill-informed masses. So, left-of-centre politicians ran with it.
There was very little mention of how our luxurious lifestyles disappear without oil and gas, nor that sabotaging western energy security is a huge help to regimes such as Russia, Saudi Arabia, and China.
Well, the jig is up.
The data is trickling in, and every day millions of people around the world are coming to terms with the fact that they have been misled on the biggest of issues.
There is compelling evidence indicating that the interventions to combat an overly hyped COVID-19 pandemic caused more harm among healthy, young people than ever would have helped the unhealthy elderly:
Analysis of excess deaths in 2020 reveals surprising deviations
A look back at causes of death in the first year of COVID-19
Assessing the relative lethality of COVID-19: a Canadian case study
There is also abundant evidence indicating that the world is NOT facing an existential climate crisis, and that a pragmatic approach to climate policy is a better path:
Climate change and energy – context for the great debate
Sea level is rising; should we be worried?
Taking as critical look at the ‘Great Pacific Plastic Patch’
Putting global emissions in perspective
Capturing carbon – the science and the subtleties
In recent months, we have seen left-wing parties backtracking to a degree on policies regarding such things as masks, vaccines, garbage patches, and fossil fuels. But it might be too late. Many commoners are coming to realize that the emperor is indeed completely naked.
I believe that the self-inflicted wounds to the credibility of left-leaning leaders could be fatal. Time – and voters – will tell.
