Our State of Debauchery

It is easy to argue that Canadian politicians are engaged in debaucherous politics. It is easy to show how our political parties have corrupted both their duty to the public and their supposed loyalty to the wealth of the commons. It is easy to demonstrate how the political elites are subverting democracy by silencing debate (Layton and Harper and the leaders debate), while strengthening the very institutions that increase the democratic deficit in this country (such as our Senate, the First Past the Post voting system, and the Security and Prosperity Partnership). It is even easier to illustrate how our government not only rewards excessive indulgence but also seeks the expansion of consumption and its associated environmentally destructive lewdness. It is simple to show how the ‘continual growth’ model of our capitalist system perpetuates excessiveness.

These debaucherous acts are simple to observe but do not tell the full story of the state of Canadian debauchery, for it’s not simply politicians who are engaging in ignorant debauchery. We, the people of this land, are also guilty of allowing our fidelity to each other be corrupted while being seduced from virtue as citizens, from our duty to democracy, and from our allegiance to the greater good. To live in a democracy means that we have the responsibility and the duty to keep the system of governance accountable (and to be engaging in peace, prosperity, and good governance) and to stopping our debaucherous inaction from costing us our liberties, freedoms and rights. This cannot be accomplished simply through voting, but takes involvement and participation.

There are a vast array of democratic processes that are available to us, such as getting involved in a social movement, harassing our elected officials for heinous policies (such as bill C-3 which allows for secret trials to occur in Canada), or stopping corporations from profiting on the excessive exploitation of our ecosystem, or challenging the very foundations of the economic policies that are allowing the earth, the very source of our lives, to be turned into toxic waste. We must take responsibility to live consciously in moderation and to challenge the corporations and institutions that push a debaucherous agenda.

We must live democratically and stop waiting for others to be democratic for us. Because at this moment we are still allowing, even justifying, the debauchery that runs rampant in our political parties and systems of governance as well as the continued corporate debauching of the planet. Those who are succeeding in consolidating power in the pursuit of an unjust and unequal world are celebrating that we are content in our short-sighted debauchery and ignorance.

De*bauch”er*y\, n.; pl. Debaucheries.
1. Corruption of fidelity; seduction from virtue, duty, or allegiance.
2. Excessive indulgence of the appetites; especially, excessive indulgence of lust; intemperance; sensuality; habitual lewdness.