For the Public Good
Good day to my fellow Albertans, (and those of you who are Albertan at heart!) And a hearty good day to the rest of you as well!
Things are getting very busy for me lately. As I write this, I’m waiting for my son to get ready for his basketball game this morning. We drove up to Slave Lake so we could watch him play, and wow, can he play! My boy did awesome and scored 30 points in yesterday’s game! I am very proud of him.
My life, since the COVID ridiculousness, has become so busy that I rarely get to do the important things, like watch my son play basketball. Or even have dinner with my girls at their homes (they live on their own now). My time has been mostly taken up with my business, The Whistle Stop Cafe, as would be expected of any small business, but I also spend a lot of time working on advocacy projects, involved in political activism, and even leading an educational organization to ensure a free and prosperous Alberta. I do this for my kids and their futures, but it is true that I miss a lot of the present as a consequence. I do understand that some consequences are expected, of course.
This truth has been weighing heavily on me lately. I fully expected that the government would have annihilated me, and I would have lost my business for standing up for myself, which would have freed up a lot of time for me to work Full Steam Ahead on ensuring a better future for us all. Instead, my days are as follows: Wake up at 4:30, get cleaned up, and head to work. Open the cafe. Make cinnamon buns. Make hamburger buns. Change the oil in the deep-fryer. Prepare a soup. Ensure the line is stocked and ready for the day. Bake a sheet of bacon. Make a few breakfasts and pour a whole bunch of coffees. Check to make sure the store is stocked. Remove expired product and rotate new in. Do the dishes and hand over to the day cook. Have my breakfast and head out to do personal chores. Travel to Red Deer and get some stuff for the cafe and store. Get home in time for a webinar or a speaking event. Try to get to bed by 9 p.m. Then do it all over again.
Now throw in the day-to-day tasks of the Alberta Prosperity Project, maybe try to collaborate with another group to advocate for the AB pension Plan, which requires meeting after meeting. Perhaps spend a few dozen hours a week helping to promote their events. It all takes time, effort, and resources.
Considering all this, I really enjoy what I’m doing, but it does not come easy. I often wonder, “why me?” to which my sarcastic second personality within replies, “why not you?” I’m right. He’s right. Whatever. We all have busy lives and busy days; we’re all just trying to make our way through life, to survive, and to prosper, right?
Wrong.
There are many who wish to live their lives by the fruit of their labor. Many people wish to be left alone, to be free, to chart their own course no matter where it leads them. Those people do not need much governance, save that governance that contributes to peaceful co-existence with others. There are others, though, who exist only because of what others contribute. Those people believe that others ‘owe’ them things. They believe that because they simply exist, they have a ‘right’ to the things that others have earned. Now it is important to differentiate between those who are unable to provide the necessities of life and live well due to things beyond their control from those who are able to earn their way and contribute but choose instead rules and regulations that allow them to take from others. Lending a helping hand is certainly virtuous, but only if the one helping is able to do so of their own free will.
You may have already been thinking what I’m thinking, Pinky. Does this group of people who make rules and regulation to take what others create sound familiar? Yes, that is government. Not just government, there are many other groups who believe in this model (the Communist Party of Alberta is on the rise even marching through the streets!). Our government and bureaucracy have ballooned in this country, and in this province to the point where 3 in ten people are employed by either government, unions, or arms-length government partners. This is a problem for me, and for you as well, whether you realize it or not. We need to fix this, which means we need to change laws, which means we need to get involved in politics or advocate for and support those who do.
You wonder why we have had little time to get involved in politics? Why the majority of parents will never be on a school board, or council, or library board? The main reason is that we have no time. We work 40, 50, 60 hours a week to make ends meet, paying a whopping 70% of what we earn or create in order to support the mind-boggling behemoth of bureaucracy that we’ve allowed to fester unchecked for decades. We do not have the time, just as I do NOT have the time to be doing the work that I’m doing in addition to running my business. Now, think if those who DO have the time. The LGBTQ activist with no children that wishes to inject their ideology into the education system has the time. Even if they must sacrifice other things that take their time in order to sit on a school board, they do it because something has affected them enough that the juice is worth the squeeze. Same with city councils, library boards, etc. These are areas in which activists who either have the time as they exist off the fruits of others’ labor, or they have been affected in such a way that it encourages them to get involved and be the change they wish to see in the world.
Unfortunately, some of those changes involve exposing children to men dressed as women, with their berries on full display, reading inappropriate material to them. Or promoting the idea that kids who question their existence should be encouraged to mutilate their bodies and sterilize themselves. Still, others make promises to workers that if they allow them to govern they will improve their lives and then they simply make rule after rule, law after law that increases their power and reduces our prosperity for the public good.
We MUST get back on track. We MUST Hold the Line when it comes to family values, freedom, and our faith. Why us? If not us, then who? If not now, then when? Our wealth and prosperity are taken from us through legislation, union dues, etc., and then that money is used to attack the very things that drive our society. If we don’t start funding, of our own free will, those individuals and organizations that work to change our world then who will? There are many people working really hard to make these changes and if we won’t support the work they’re trying to do, if we won’t have their backs then how can we expect things to change?
Eventually, people run out of resources. Eventually, people run out of patience when being attacked from both sides.
Eventually, Atlas Shrugs.
-Chris
