The slight difference between that and the Social Contract is this, replace the word "country" with "society".
The idea of the Social Contract is that we are caretakers of each other. This actually was a founding principle for Canada.
Where the Americans had "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" we had "shared sacrifice, shared reward".
So the idea of a Social Contract is pretty simple. You're not the only one here, you didn't get where you are by yourself, you need to keep that in mind.
When I was young I voted with the bias of dogma, partisanship and was I easily swayed by East/West tribalism. I voted Conservative largely because out west you're told all the time "The West Wants In" and "The East Hates the West" and "Quebec is the spoiled child of Confederation".
It doesn't matter whether it's true. It's part of the mythos of Western Canada and is as firmly entrenched now as it was decades ago when I was a child.
But it's a myth.
How do I know that? Premier of Alberta, Jason Kenney, has been sniffing around Ontario and is already being whispered as campaigning to replace Andrew Scheer if Scheer doesn't form government. Except Jason Kenney is also claiming Alberta may leave if Scheer doesn't form government.
Which is it, Jason?
So its clear that Mr. Kenney does not subscribe to the concept of the Social Contract.
And he's only in it for his own interests, which you can tell because right now, as I type this, he's playing both sides of the street, threatening to take his Province and go home, while vying for the top job in the party.
Now if I were still young I would probably vote Conservative.
I'm doing very well now and provided I ignore the fact the math that Andrew Scheer is pushing doesn't add up, and a lot of stuff he's promised was promised by his predecessor Stephen Harper, and didn't happen then either, provided I ignored all of that then on the face of it the Conservative Platform would benefit me very much.
What I'm saying is I'm very well off now.
I have boots, and bootstraps, and massive savings, and the ability to spend 4 grand on a Paris weekend at the drop of a hat, and spend hundreds at a comic shop on toys because of a whim, and buy all sorts of new things for the house, and get a brand new car which I can pay for in cash.
In fact, last year, for our 20th wedding anniversary, we spent $10,000 on one day! We didn't need a loan, we didn't sweat the extravagance, and we had a blast.
It was one of the greates days of our lives together.
But I'm not in the 1%, or the 10%, or probably even the 25%, yet by every measure, if Scheer could keep even half of his promises I'd be better off voting for him.
But I'm not voting for Conservatives.
The reason why is because when I look back, every time I ran into difficulty there was a Conservative government working against me.
I was raised a single child in a single parent household, on welfare, at a time that was a rarity.
We moved from Ontario to BC when I was 7 because staying in Ontario meant I likely wouldn't get to complete my high school graduation, and my mother really wanted that for me.
Back then Ontario under Conservative Bill Davis would've cut me off at 16.
While NDP run BC on the other hand didn't have a Conservative leaning government and hadn't discovered austerity yet, and BC wouldn't until I was 20 years old, when they made it impossible for me to complete a University education because they wouldn't give a welfare kids student loans unless it was in a trade.
And every other time I had difficulty, what could've helped, what used to be there, no longer was and each time that was because of a Conservative government.
Now I've rarely worked with anyone who didn't think I was smart. But that's all self-taught.
And my situation now is the result of those smarts being used to learn how to make my own boots, then my own bootstraps, then position myself so that even if a Conservative government got into power and cut thing I would be okay.
But that's me NOW.
I look at kids the age I was when we moved to BC and I can't find the extra-curriculum programs that kept me from getting into drugs or suffering from depression. They're not there where Conservatives exist, because Conservative governments cut them and attack other parties whenever they try to reinstate them!
And even though they are the number one spot for access to the internet for the poor and a free source of books that helped kids like me make our own boots, the Libraries I used to self-educate at are right now being closed by Conservative governments in cutbacks.
And the super engaged teachers who made sure I didn't fall through the cracks have left public schools because of Conservative government cut backs.
So if I was a kid now, in a society that has experienced decades of Conservative cuts to benefit voters like myself, then I would likely have no option but to go into a trade.
And while that can be very rewarding, and we need them, it's not a skill set I have.
So instead of being very successful and respected for what I do I'd likely have been ruined by mistakes made in a job I had no business doing.
And I'd likely be bitter, depressed and dependent on drugs, alcohol or homeless because of it.
Instead, I vote Liberal now. To slow those cutbacks, hopefully as I've seen with Trudeau, reverse some of the long-term selfish based damage we've done to the most vulnerable. I vote Liberal because they're the closest to the center, a place a compromise where if we're going to go into debt it's going to be for infrastucture spending, not vote buying tax breaks for people like me.
I vote Liberal because I believe in the Social Contract, and except for a handful of seats in places like Hamilton and Vancouver Island, they're the only party that can stop more Conservative cuts.
Andrew Scheer's platform costing was released today. It's heavy on cuts to infrastructure to pay for cuts to revenue from people in my tax bracket and higher.
It's... oh, what's the word, very Repuglican.
And that's not very Canadian to me, it's certainly not what I believe is required under out Social Contract.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-conservative-platform-unveils-billions-of-dollars-of-new-spending-cuts/
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