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Left, Right & Center – A re-definition
Left, Right & Center – Bans
Left, Right & Center – Environmentalism
Left, Right & Center – Political correctness and discrimination
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The Forest City Institute:
Civic Governance In The City Of London, Ontario
PLEASE NOTE: Due to a technical difficulty with the broadcast server approximately 2 minutes of the program was not archived.
Human Rights Commissions vs Freedom of speech
Emergency rooms turn into battle zones where patients wait 24 hours for beds and ambulance crews linger in hallways, yet politicians insist on expanding the very model that creates the crisis. Socialized health care operates as the ultimate pyramid scheme that enriches early participants at the expense of later generations, transforming a supposed right into a privilege granted only to the severely ill.
Official bilingualism exposes its one-sided reality, prioritizing French in practice despite demographics where Spanish, Arabic, and Polish outrank it, while fostering an entitlement mentality that drains public resources on translation and settlement services. Multicultural funding divides rather than unites, prompting calls for integration that still rely on taxpayer dollars to promote separate cultural organizations.
Proposed smoking bans in cars with children serve as symbolic gestures of nanny-state control, using vulnerable groups as legal wedges to erode private rights and ignore the slippery slope already crossed in bars, restaurants, and beyond. Drug policies rest on historical falsehoods rather than genuine health concerns, fueling prohibition that contradicts evidence and inflates enforcement costs. Downtown renewal schemes repeat the pattern of government intervention that ignores taxation and regulation as root causes of decline.
These contradictions highlight the steady assault on individual freedoms in the name of collective protection. Only by reclaiming personal responsibility do matters become Just Right.
Polls expose a curious public confusion between fact and fiction. Many in Britain insist Sherlock Holmes walked the streets of London as flesh and blood, while dismissing Winston Churchill as mere legend. Such blurring of reality and myth reveals how powerfully stories shape perception long after events fade.
We see the same dynamic play out in contemporary policy debates. Canadians celebrate an MRI scan that costs only a parking fee after seven months of waiting, as if this represents some triumph rather than a rationed system’s quiet cruelty. The satisfaction with mediocrity masks the invisible costs borne by others denied timely care.
Political figures receive similar mythic treatment. John Tory garners praise as the ideal conservative leader despite a record of equivocation and electoral failure. Talk of principles clashes with actions that mirror liberal instincts, leaving voters with no clear choice.
Meanwhile, advocates for human rights commissions invoke ‘hatred kills’ to justify speech restrictions, citing tragic cases while omitting inconvenient details like the ideological motives behind certain crimes. The impulse to control expression under the guise of protection echoes ancient myths used to maintain power.
Ideas endure far longer than the individuals or events that spawn them, whether drawn from ancient legends or modern political narratives. Distinguishing the symbolic from the factual remains essential in every age. Only in this way do we discover what is Just Right.
Ontario politicians declare the Lord’s Prayer incompatible with modern diversity as Premier Dalton McGuinty pushes for a new inclusive custom in the legislature. Public voices push back, noting that most Ontarians across faiths accept its basic tenets while other provinces maintain their own prayer traditions. The debate exposes an obsession with race and culture that daily screams from headlines.
Parallel controversies unfold as Human Rights Commissions process complaints against Ezra Levant and Mark Steyn by Muslim leaders. One complaint drops amid public backlash, yet the pattern reveals efforts to end debate rather than engage it, especially when contrasted with bold free speech actions like Danish cartoon reprints.
At the same time Malthusian warnings of population explosion and resource scarcity crumble under evidence. Julian Simon wins his famous wager against Paul Ehrlich as selected metal prices fall despite massive population growth. David Suzuki’s calls to jail dissenting leaders echo inquisitorial tactics, while human ingenuity through technology and markets demonstrates resource abundance.
Power plays masquerade as progress in these arenas of faith, speech, and future. Staying grounded in reason and individual liberty proves Just Right.
Our philosophical journey through love reveals its ancient power as both cosmic unifier and destroyer of reason. From Hesiod’s primordial eros that unnerves gods and men to Plato’s heavenly and earthly forms, where the lover—not the beloved—gains virtue through pursuit of ideal beauty, love emerges as a force that shapes religions, institutions, and governments. Aristotle grounds it ethically and psychologically while linking it to the unmoved mover that later influences Christian concepts of divinity. Judaism and Christianity shift love from irrational passion to a voluntary attitude that can coexist with reason, yet the tension persists: emotion versus rational control.
These insights sharpen our view of today’s battles. Human Rights Commissions weaponize “hate” to silence debate, as seen in complaints against Maclean’s for publishing Mark Steyn, demanding forced publication rather than open rebuttal. City Hall pushes symbolic gestures like Earth Hour, low-flush toilets, and sustainable-energy surveys that treat conservation as virtue while ignoring the need for production, property rights, and expanded energy to meet rising demand. Sentencing inconsistencies expose a justice system more concerned with deterrence messages than individual fairness.
A listener’s thoughtful email on religion and virtue prompts reflection: morality springs from rational codes of behavior, not mere belief or professed faith, echoing Richard Dawkins’ point that religion deserves no special immunity from criticism. Comedy clips and external voices underscore the absurdities without becoming endorsements.
Reason prevails when passions earn their place and facts trump fear. That balance is Just Right.
