HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1978-05-31, Page 2Brussels Post
BRUSSE LS
ONTAR 10
WEDNESDAY, MAY 31, 1978
Serving Brussels and the surrounding community.
Published each Wednesday afternoon at Brussels, Ontario
by McLean Bros.Publishers. Limited,
Evelyn Kennedy - Editor
.Meinber Canadian Community Newspaper Association and
Ontario Weekly Newspaper Association
*CNA
Subscriptions (in advance) Canada $9.00 a Year.
Others $17.00 a Year. Single Copies 20 cents each.
Too much
government?
Prince Philip, never noted for his reticence, got
himself in trouble recently for suggesting that the
level of government interference in the lives of the
people of Britain was approaching the Orwellian era
of 1984.
Prince Philip was not railing at the almost daily
recital of major and minor violations of civ it rights,
frighterning as that may be. Rather , it would appear
that he was attacking a cast of mind which says
bigness in government is an inevitable and necessary
outgrowth of technological democracy.
While we sympathize with the views expressed by
Prince Philip, we must recognize that the more
complex the society and the more intricate personal
relations become, the more government intervention
there will be.
The problem is.to know how much interference is
too much, how little not enough. In attempting to
throw some light on the question, the Reverend
Clarke MacDonald, Deputy Secretary of. the United
Church's Division of Mission in Canada, recently
told a men's club inChatham, Ontario, that it was the
responsibility of the Christian conscience to
determine "what is too much and/or too little."
Governments and the people that run and
administer them, exist solely for the citizens of the
nation they rule. But if these citizens demand more
and more in the way of social benefits, government
bureaucracies will increase in direct proportion at
best and more likely out of all proportion.
When this happens, denial of human rights looms
as a real danger and George Orwell's fictional
prophecy of a Big. Brother watching over our every
move could become reality. As Dr. MadDonald
pointed out in his Chatham address, determining
what is too much or too little is a matter of
conscience. Every citizen should make sure that the
voice of conscience is heard in parliament and
legislative assemblies. •
(Unchurched Editorial)
OUTGOING PRESIDENT — Julie McCall, outgoing
president of the Leos received roses and a silver cup
from vice-president. Linda Machan when the Leos
held their second annual anniversary at the Brussels
Morris and Grey Community Centre on Friday night.
There's so much written these days about
national unity that one hesitates to add
another word in case it might be the straw that
breaks•the country's back. Still it's a problem
that continues to bother people, writers
included and the only way to deal with it, is to
bring it out in the open.
It's ironic that when this country is more
affluent than ever before (despite the minor
setback of our present economic situation),
when we've just seen some of our most
stirring national events such as the centennial
events of 10 years ago, such as the
international hockey victories of,1972 and 1976
that sent the country into wild celebrations,
such as the 1976 Olympics, that now of all the
times in our history the country should be so
close to blowing to smitherens.
The problems of the country in general, I
think, can be tied to something singer Henry
Belafonte mentioned the other night on a
television interview. Belafonte said that
despite the affluence of. North American and
European life right now, there is something
missing. People aren't happy despite all their
wealth.
This is reflected in general by what has
been called the "me generation". The
idealism of the 1960's, of the civil rights battle
and the anti-war movement has given way to
the selfishness of the 1970s. This selfishness,
from the business executive all the way down
to the workers on the factory assembly line
has had a great deal of effect on our current
economic problems.
Canadian's, among the most selfish of the
selfish peoples of the 1970's, priced them-
selves out of the international markets. They
helped create problems because we became so
greedy to buy whatever was cheapest so we
could save our money for "important" things
like vacations in the south, that we nearly
killed industries like the textile business
because we'd rather buy cheap imports than
support our own country,
Okay, that's covering our economic
problems but how does the "me" generation
lead to national disunity? Surely it's just the
old "Quebec problem" in a new face. It would
be except for the fact that it isn't just a Quebec
or language problem. We hear constant
rumblings from the west. We hear that the
Maritimes would go if Quebec separated. We
hear about Newfoundland wanting to re.
negotiate its terms of Confederation.
None of the problems are new. They've
been around for years. They aren't even
unique to Canada. I can imagine the people of
Kansas feel just as isolated from the power of
Washington and New York city in the U.S. as
the people of Saskatchewan do here, but I
haven't heard any seccessionist talk down
there.
The problems seem so large now because of
the "poor little me" feeling Canadians have at
the present. Amid our affluence we're still
feeling sorry for ourselves. We want to blame
others for that emptiness that Belafonte
mentioned earlier. So Quebeckers, even
though more gigantic steps have been taken to
improve their problem in the last ten years
than in the 100 before then, feel ready to give
up on Canada. So Maritimers, after living with
their inequities for so long, now demand
action. Westerners do the same. And
Ontarians, feeling sorry and put-upon; rebel
against the outrageous' injustice of having to
listen to part of the national anthem sung in
French, by booing at a ball game.
The problems of the country are really small
compared to the Depression years or the war
years when we had all the same regional
disparities plus many harder realities. The
difference is that then we tended to look on
the bright side, not look for black clouds on a
sunny day.
They say there are two kinds of people: the
optimist can look at a glass of water filled half
way and say it's half full, the pessimist says
it's half empty. Canadians seem to be the
latter. We look across the country and we see
only what makes Albertans different from
Ontarians, Quebecois from Maritimers. I n
better tiros, we'd look and see what makes us
alike.
The other thing about the "me generation"
is that it refuses to accept responsiblity for
anything, It's always somebody else's fault.
So we refuse to admit that the problems the
country faces are created by you and me and
our counterparts elsewhere in the country.
They may be exaggerated by poor government
but to accuse one man, the prime minister or
premier of Quebec or anyone else of causing
the problems is just looking for a scape goat.
The problem is within us and the solution is
within us. Only when we recognize the fact
and try to change our own attitudes toward the
country will we begin to pull it back together
again. It's a race against titne, and against
ourselves.
I'M A REAL SWINGER — Although he was the only person on the swings Paul
Willie seemed to be enjoying thiS ride by himself at Brussels Carnival Days on
Thursday. (Brussels Post Photo)
Behind the scenes
By Keith Roulston