How does Plato apply to Canada today, its future?

Erik, as the late American philosopher Russell Kirk put it, we never learn anything new. We simply relearn. It seems each generation, some more than others, must relearn the lessons of reality. Today, your professor burdened his wife with an application of Plato's "cycles of government" from his classic study The Laws. Simply, Plato observed that self-control is always better than external controls. When people lose self-control because they abandon time-tested values, society reaches a point where it has a choice: collapse into anarchy and risk conquest, or restore order good and hard through a dictatorship. If we continue to unravel, degenerate, we risk reaching this fork in the road: collapse or dictatorship. Plato noted that external control is always of poorer quality than internal self-control. Sadly, the Macedonians conquered Greece shortly after Plato's death; Aristotle, the pupil of Plato, became the tutor of the future Alexander the Great! Aristotle "went with the flow" and accepted the end of his country's independence. Greece did not recover its independence until the 1800's almost 2,000 years later. It can happen. How does Plato's analysis help us to better understand present trends and where they may be taking us? Are we following his model, scenario?

Canada did not follow insane American deregulation of financial institutions

Canada, to its great credit, did not join the American stampede to deregulate financial institutions.  This is why the banks of Canada today are solid, not "zombie" American banks, which are "dead but still walking."  Sadly, the American people have not yet grasped they have "zombie" institutions.

Shaun, your humble servant here just read The Lessons of History by Will and Ariel Durant, a husband and wife team of historians, who are "giants" of 20th-century historiography. Their "Lessons" - published in 1968 - sums up what they learned about history and human behavior because of their 11-volume historical study of Western civilization that leads up to their "Lessons," the twelfth, final book in their definitive study of the history of Western civilization. Here is what the have observed. When government regulation of bad behavior is lax, non-existant, look for a growth in the emphasis in society on ethics and religions to fill this vacuum. Boomo, bango, bingo! This is exactly what has happend in the USA. We have stopped enforcing laws against economic terrorism; as a result, we have a renewed interest in ethics as a way to "fight back." It is amazing to see how acurate the Durants are with their assessment of human behaviors; trend forecasters would say, yes, their model is a valid, reliable way to test current trends today. Trend forecasting does utilize historical models as ways to test current trends and project probable, possible future scenarios. When "ethics" and religion do not do the job, we can look for a swing back to governmental reuglation, maybe even law enforcement and punishment of business vampires and their zombie political allies. Durants suggest this could be the pattern in the future, for it has been the pattern in the past.

Canada has water - lots of potable water for human use!

Carol, bravo! These reviews of your two website choices, Hudson and RAND, are very, very exciting! Thank you for your careful analysis of their resources for researchers. Your humble servant here had the chance to visit RAND once. He interviewed the person in charge of securing R&D funding for special projects at RAND. What was stunning was the persons, a woman, had a Ph.D. in civil engineering from UCLA, and she was the fundraiser for RAND! This is impressive - big time! Her board of advisors included then Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. When she was not raising research funds for projects that offered potential but still had nobody to pay for contract research about them, she tracked the price of water - globally! RAND is already tracking trends in water as a resource - in detail, depth (pun)! This was in 1985! RAND was already conducting trend forecasts on the availability or lack of it for this basic human survival resource. We cannot drink oil. As I waited for my turn to get security clearance to go to her office, I observed the special Pentagon couriers coming into the building - with briefcases chained to their wrists! thank you for taking me back in time to a very exciting trend forecasting think tank. If you have a chance visit it. Catch the energy!

Future Studies in Canada in the 1860's !

Marta, my Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin - Madison followed the German model, which in fact originated at the University of Berlin in the 1800's. Germany in the 1800's was the world's leading center of scientific study, research. As a result, countries that wanted to secure the benefits of science - which was just emerging forcefully because of the impact of the new Industrial Revolution - looked to the German model. In fact, my M.A. thesis at the University of Toronto, entitled Thomas D'Arcy McGee and the Idea of National Education, explored how one of the "Founding Fathers" of Canada, which became an independent country in 1867, had researched the German model and wanted to implement it in Canada! McGee advocated following the best science education in the world at his time, when 90% of Canadians still lived on farms! McGee, in fact, was a "futurist." He was able to imagine a scientific future in Canada based on the actual working models in Germany, actually Prussia, for Germany did not unite as a country until 1871. Sadly, a political enemy shot McGee dead at age 45 in 1868, and others had to realize his educational "dreams" - scenarios - later. Your professor here is still fascinated with McGee and wants to turn his M.A. thesis into a book for wider sharing and study! Last year, in fact, my wife and I journeyed to Montreal, Canada, where McGee lived, and I literally sat in his pew (number 125) at St. Patrick's church there. We then motored to Ottawa, the national capital, so we could trace his steps on the fatal night of his murder on Parliament Hill. In fact, next month, he and his wife will be at the University of Toronto for a conference, and this writer plans to explore how he might leverage some research money to help him to repackage his thesis into an exciting book!

June 2012 Shooting in Downtown Toronto

From: WALTER Sent: Tuesday, June 05, 2012 6:47 AM To: Paul Rux, Ph.D. Subject: Re: Oh My Gosh! Hi Paul, You may have heard that the culprit is in custody and was a Samali. There is an issue with immigrants from countries where civil war has destroyed the rule of law and what we call civil society. The Somali refugees have had a difficult time finding work in Canada for various reasons and many drifted to Alberta for work where 30 of them have been murdered as part of gang violence. Some drift back to Toronto. If we let them into our country we should do a better job helping refugees fit in, especially young men who have experienced only violence. Our present conservative government has slashed all such programs, including English classes - rugged individualism I guess. I'm thankful that we were accepted as "Nazi" refugees and had relatives here to help when we came. I got beat up as a DP ( my brother was warned not to listen to "German" music-classical- by a Scottish neighbour) and in Winnipeg where there were a lot of ethnic cliques- fortunately we played soccer not with guns. Cheers, walter X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X Walter, this may sound brutal, but do not let them into the country. Canada owes them nothing. Moreover, if they misbehave, kick them out immediately – unless they have committed a crime. I lived in Canada as an immigrant. I expected no favors. I was thankful for being there. I earned my way. I lived by the rules. Social work leads to sentimentalism; sentimentalism can get you into more trouble than facing facts. I share the wisdom of Wiarton here. The sentimentalism comment comes from the late John Johnson, guidance counselor at the Wiarton high school, who grew up in Sudbury, the only child of Swedish miner immigrants. John was a door gunner in a RCAF bomber in WWII. John was the only person in Wiarton to put up a NDP lawn sign. For him the NDP represented working-class “bread and butter,” not social engineering and catering to deviants. John cared for his parents in their old age, brought them to Wiarton, and bought a house for them there. I spent Friday evenings in his living room learning with and from him. I share this because it puts the “sentimentalism” advice into perspective. I make no claim to owning its originality. Give credit where credit is due. However, I do support its validity. It is amazing what I learned in Wiarton. I would like to write a book of essays someday: The Wisdom of Wiarton. Anyway, thank you for the update. The USA faces a similar challenge with the illegal Mexicans coming here. For me, it is an issue of security – given dirty nuke bombs and biological weapons today – more than ever. In our house, you live by our rules, or get out. You cannot distinguish Arabs from Mexicans, and with an open border, terrorists can access this country. The Catholic bishops are whining about requirements to report illegals taking advantage of church charities. It violates “charity.” It also boosts attendance at mass. When Mexico collapses as a country due to drug cartel violence there, we shall face a moment of truth, choice, reality vs. sentimentalism. This writer says – seal the border – enter and live on our terms – or get out, or worse. Again, Canada owes the world nothing. It owes its citizens everything – their safety comes first. God bless Canada. Take care. Paul

Secure the Canadian Border - Good and Hard

Tonight, I attended a book night at our local book store. Former Madison chief of police David Cooper – now an Episcopalian priest, whose first parish after he retired from policing was St. John’s Episcopal in Portage – where I met him – talked about the need for policing reforms, as he sees them. Anyway, the topic turned to illegals in Arizona. After the discussion of this and other topics by him, I engaged three persons in further talk about Mexico before we left. It went, goes this way. Because of the drug cartels it is entirely possible, even probable, that Mexico will collapse as a country into five drug cartel regions. At this point, look for a flood of refugees. Look also for US invasion of Northern Mexico to secure the oil fields and branch plants of American companies there. A tidal wave of refugees also poses severe security risks for terrorism. I heard this first in Milwaukee at a conference from a State Department expert who spoke about future relations between the USA and Mexico. He said the real danger is Mexico coming unglued, not Iran. Of course, because of Wall Street, we are looking, focused the wrong way on Middle Eastern oil wells. Is it possible? Is it probable? You need to decide the answers.

Home Grown Barbarians

The bedrock of all social, economic, political, educational order is moral order. The source of this moral order has been the Judaeo-Christian religion. As the US loses its traditional religious roots, it is not surprising to witness the rise of barbarism. As British historian Arnold Toynbee observed, "The Romans imported their barbarians. We are busy growing our own at home."