A leftie?

Blog from March 10, 2009

Yesterday was Monday, and like all Monday's prior to this one, my copy of the Economist arrived; stuffed in my mailbox in such a way that the cover always rips off. I read the Economist for two reasons. 1. It provides a good synopsis of the previous week's happenings, and 2. I still get a student discount rate of $100 for the entire year.

Being a liberal socialist, it's not often that I agree with the views expressed on those glossy, non-recycled, inked pages, but I choke it back because I think it's important to know what the other side thinks. This week's content however was singing a different tune all-together.

The cover, or at least what was left of it, was displaying a marijuana leaf and indicated the solution to drug wars was contained within those pages. My immediate thought was 'Oh no, the US wants to make marijuana punishable by the death penalty'. Imagine my surprise when they instead proposed to legalize drugs as a way to reduce illegal trade and subsequent drug wars, citing Mexico's 6000 deaths and drug wars as a serious issue, fixable only by legalization.

Hallelujah. This is some very progressive policies, and is divergent from the previous 'head-stuck-in-ass' way of conducting government policies. Next on the list, I propose that they legalize prostitution since it is also not going away, so long as there are men who want sex and women who need money. Sex, like drugs, have been around since the dawn of time.

The next article that warms my heart is one in which Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is cited as NOT being a contender in our clean green future. It has not been proven on a large scale, is many times more expensive than other clean energy technologies, and the only people investing in it are governments, i.e. not private investors, which is an indication that the market thinks it's not going to be viable. Instead The Economist cited carbon taxes as a productive method for reducing dependence on coal and fostering investments on alternative options.

Gasp! What a novel concept...a Carbon Tax. Everyone in BC, give yourself a pat on the back. Now all we need to do is make the carbon tax actually work for us by raising it to a level above negligible, which is where it currently sits at 2.4 cents a litre of gas.

If The Economist keeps this up, I'll be out of a career. Until then, I'll continue to get up every day and help to save our future.