so simple and so straightforward that it's jarring
now ask yourself what that means about the world.
meet danielle smith, the brand new premier of alberta sworn in just this october 11th.
this interview is stunning in its honest simplicity.
she is asked:
“in your campaign, you promised to apologize to the victims of covid lockdowns. when can we expect that?”
and responds:
“right now.”
then she apologizes.
seriously, watch this. it’s so absent of artifice and smarmy slimery that it’s outright jarring. a politician speaking simple sentiment in plain language and offering frank appraisal and apology. where she is not sure, she says so and promises she’s working on it.
and she tells the truth.
“these (lockdowns and vaccine discrimination) were political decisions”
now ask yourself “what does it say about the world that this is shocking?”
to be clear: i didn’t know her, her policies, or anything much about her until just now.
but i’d like to know more.
because this is good stuff.
she wants blanket amnesty for those “discriminated against based on their vaccine status.” for those the alberta government fired, she offers jobs back.
who knows how it plays out, but it feels like the basis for a real start and stands in marked contrast to so many US groups especially the teachers unions who, as ever, recoil from any sort of accountability as if they were a vampire offered a garlic and holy water martini.
but perhaps this is how we suss out those who we can trust going forward.
perhaps this is the acid test.
are you taking accountability and trying to make it right or do you seek to evade and shift blame?
are your words simple or slippery?
people respect honesty and it’s an actual basis to engage around differences in opinion.
when everyone lies and spins, there can be no dialogue. we speak “at” one another rather than “to.”
what if forthright honesty were reclaimed as a societal touchstone and supplanted all the endless spin?
perhaps if governments would like to win the trust of the people, they should consider this crazy idea called “not lying all the time” and “speaking to the people as though they were not idiots.”
then perhaps they might discover the ability to engage instead of enrage.
because we are all really, really sick of never hearing a true word uttered by those in power and of being endlessly managed and manipulated.
i know, it’s a radical policy shift but it just might work…
"In a time of deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act."
George Orwell
Canadian born and raised in Alberta here. For our US friends, our former, quite unpopular Premier Jason Kenney, announced he was stepping down earlier this year when he only got 51% of the United Conservative Party's support to stay on. During the pandemic he first said he would never impose a vax mandate, but locked the province down HARD, jailed pastors, and the also imposed a vax mandate, thereby managing to piss everybody off- those who said he did too much and those who said he didn't. So, a few weeks ago, Danielle was elected by the same party membership in 6 rounds of voting, with 53% of the vote. She very much supports the unvaccinated. Another position of hers is that if Trudeau imposes something on Alberta that is not good for Alberta, that we should be able to reject its imposition- she is calling it the Alberta Sovereignty Act. She also wants blanket amnesty for those who broke 'C 19 rules', and to disentangle us from agreements signed with the WEF. Her primary opposition is the NDP party- our version of your 'radical left' arm of the Dems and proud standard bearers of the Branch Covidians. ( NDP leader Rachel Notley, once Premier herself, actually pushed a door to door vaccination campaign and recently said publicly that "there is no evidence the vaccines are unsafe") The NDP is the MSM media darling, of course, so Danielle is being called 'far right', if not fascist, by most media outlets for her views, as you have correctly guessed. Problem is she faces a general election next spring, so she has about 7-8 months to turn the narrative- a HUGE task given we have many many lunatics whose hair is currently on fire about Danielle and her positions. The question now is will she be Kari Lake or will she cave to the pressure? She has already apologized for saying the unvaccinated are the most discriminated group of her lifetime and the country went bananas: " the First Nations, the gays, the muslims " etc etc. I am a staunch supporter of Danielle's, but I don't know if we will be able to outnumber the left in 7 or 8 months.