I intensely dislike simplistic comparisons of the “imagine what we could with the money allocated to defense spending… how many schools can a cruise missile build?” type….

I think the comparisons are simplistic for a variety of reasons. Often the reason for using force in the first place is because “they” wont listen…. So hard to imagine that “they” would take the money and do what you think it right. A case in point – whatever else the state of propaganda coming out of Afghanistan it does seem that there is a very strong inclination against schooling women. Giving money to the pre-2001 Afghan government was hardly going to change that. (and I am not saying that is a cogent reason to go to war.)

Anyways … despite disliking those kinds of arguments, I found myself instinctively reaching for exactly one of those comparisons today. The sum in question: 1,283 billion dollars US. Yes, folks, you are not having an absence seizure…. it really is one thousand and 2 hundred and eighty three million millions. I am allowing myself the liberty of indulging in that “what if” because of the disclaimer that this $1,283 billion is: “on top of its usual military expenditure without adjusting for inflation and debt interest.”

So…

What if we had taken all that money and did something different than bomb?

So.

We have a majority conservative government for the first time since 1993 and the first majority government since 2006. The numbers flashing on my screen say Cons 168; NDP 103; Lib 33; BQ 3 and Elizabeth May 1.

In a democracy, the people decide. In this case, enough people chose the Conservative Party. There will be those who will say that the Conservatives barely scratched the 40% popular vote needed for a majority. There will be those who say that 60% voted to the left of center. There will be calls again for a change in our first-past-the-post system. And all of those points are important and worth contemplating.

Nevertheless, all of those arguments should not disguise the fact that a full 40% of Canadians felt comfortable enough with the Conservative Party candidates to vote for them. That party is, of course, at a crossroads. The Conservatives can choose to be a party that can attract even more canadians into its tent. Or, it can choose to do what the Republicans in the United States have done: Play up the politics of fear and division.

Jason Kenney just came on CBC and told Terry Milewski to say that this will be a government for all Canadians. That is encouraging and hopefully a preview of what Mr Harper will also say.

A lot of Canadians I know voted actively against the Liberal Party and the Liberals need to work to understand the depths of feeling against them that was manifest in this campaign.

The NDP also has a lot of work ahead to prove that just as it can go from also-ran to Official Opposition it can also go from OO to government.

Peace,

So Ben Laden is dead. I have to say it came as an utter surprise. I thought he was already dead. I confess that coverage of news like this always leaves me a little confused. Obama did a good job reminding everyone why Ben Laden was a “bad person”. I know there are still those that still believe Ben Laden was not responsible for 9/11, but then again there are also those who still believe that Obama was not born in the United States….

The most poignant part about Obama’s remarks was the pain-not-visible of Ben Laden’s victims. I am not quoting verbatim, but something along the lines of parents deprived of seeing their children grow up and children forced to grow up without a father or a mother. It is important to humanize the numbers that the media otherwise just lists as statistics, because ultimately we need to be reminded of our humanity.

I found myself wondering though about the Afghan and Iraqi civilian suffering. One estimate is that there were as many Afghan civilian casualties as a direct result of the US “Operation Enduring Freedom” as there were American civilian deaths in 9/11. (See http://pubpages.unh.edu/~mwherold/dossier for an attempt at recording those pains-not-visible).

Without a doubt, the world is a better place without the likes of Ben Laden. But also, without a doubt, there remains a long path to walk before the world is a truly just place that treasures our common humanity.