I thought Czars went out with the Romanoffs.

I have been planning a blog on the issue of Commissioners subsuming the role of our elected officials and plan do so in more detail later.

I do though want to touch on the issue now, as a result of one of today's national papers screaming on its front page "Facebook Breaches Privacy, Czar Says" and as the result of a BNN interview yesterday that I will speak about in a minute.

The term Czar has been picked up by the liberal media in America, to describe their ever-growing list of omnipotents who have assumed responsibility for everything from the economy, to homeland security, to overseeing the GMs of Amercia. Our liberal press is following suit aping this title in recognition that these isolated officials are increasing in number in Canada as well.

However one looks at it, the undeniable result is less democracy for our two countries.

These so-called Czars are performing important functions that affect us all and that should be performed by our elected officials.

Yesterday, on BNN I was fortunate to watch the former leader of the Progressive Conservative Party, John Tory interview Canada's Privacy Commissioner the one and the same Privacy Czar referred to in the above newspaper. The Commissioner led off by declaring that Face Book improperly stores personal information of its users and that this would have to cease even if it meant charges being laid.

Tory, to his credit, countered with two loaded questions:

• First, is it not true that the 'personal information' at issue was voluntarily provided by the user. Madam Commissioner allowed that this was the case.
• Second and of equal importance, has any of the users complained to her office? Madam Commissioner again allowed that none had done so.

It begs the question why would the Commissioner concern herself with such a none issue.

From my perspective, once the Government establishes such a Commissioner that individual and his or her staff then take it upon themselves to justify their existence, large salaries and benefits included. We the citizen pay the price with more taxes and less freedom.

It is time to scrap these Czar Empires and return their functions to where they belong - our elected officials.

Much more on this later,

"Galagher"

Pet Peeve

Today a Pet Peeve concerning high-priced financial advisors (hpfa):

Monday

Interviewer to hpfa - "the markets are up today, are you surprised by that?"

HPFA - "no, not at all, I have noticed for sometime now that equities were undervalued and it was only a matter of time that we would see such gains emerge." (smiling)

Tuesday

Interviewer to hpfa - "the markets have fallen considerably today, are you surprised by that?"

HPFA - "no, not at all, I have noticed for sometime now that eqities were overvalued and it was only a matter of time that we would see such a drop occur and I expect this will continue for sometime to come." (smiling)

Wednesday

Interviewer to hpfa - "the markets are back in positive territory, are you surprised by this?"

HPFA - "no, not at all, the fundamentals were just too strong to keep the equities down - it had to go back up and, moreover, this is likely to continue for sometime." (smiling)

Thursday

Interviewer to hpfa - "we are seeing quite a decline in equities today, are you surprised by this?"

HPFA - "no, not at all, the indicators for sometime have been pointing to the fact that this upward trend would be short-lived. Investors should move to more stable types of investments such as money market funds..." (smiling)

Moral - The only time these HPFAs are right - is in hindsight, and then they are always right.

"Galagher"

Fleshing out my philosophy

Let's get back to fleshing out my philosophy.


Over the years, I have been and continue to be a Conservative supporter. I have even been employed by the then Progressive Conservative Party of Canada. In actual fact though, I consider myself to be a Libertarian and the only reason I have continued to class myself as Conservative is that there is no viable Libertarian option available.


To me, in a pure Libertarian world, there would be no governments, no rules nor regulations; inhabitants would have to fend for themselves, within their family setting.

This seems to define what has occurred over much of early history.

In this strict sense, I would have to modify my self proclaimed political label to be 'liberal Libertarian' since I fully realize the pure form of Libertarianism is unworkable in modern society. So let me try to define what I see a 'liberal libertarian' to be.

He or she would support the least government possible. Moreover, the role of government would be confined to some basic reponsibilities such as defence, foreign affairs, monetary matters, immigration, health, police/fire, and infrastucture and a few limited others.


Wherever possible, even with respect to these basic functions, government would partner with the private sector in delivery of its programs. Bureaucracy would be a fraction of its current size and taxes would be reduced dramactically.


A 'liberal Libertarian' world would also recognize that some of our citizens are in need of a helping hand through no fault of their own - the sick, the truly disabled and the elderly. Too many of our citizens have opted out of contributing to society for none of those reasons and simply because governments have made it too easy for them to do so. In our society the numbers of non-producers continues to grow at an alarming rate. While at the same time jobs go begging.

This world would be the exact opposite of the socialistic cradle to grave world that is more and more prevalent in western society. The former encourages self improvement, innovation, and an enhanced sense of the value of freedom; the latter - lethargy, apathy, and general acceptance of big brother government. The best examples of these two worlds in recent years would be the United States of America and the Soviet Union.

But even today, the United States finds itself in danger of falling to the seduction of socialism. It is becoming less and less the champion of individualism to the point where it is split down the middle between these two diverse societies and its new President is doing his darndest to extend the socialist hand. If he succeeds, the western world will sink further into mediocrity to be replaced, in our time, by the up and coming civilizations of China and India.

More on this later.

"Galagher"