Death by a Thousand Cuts: Corruption and Personal Responsibility

I would like to start with a quote from Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, and I will finish with another of his quotes.

“Gradually it was disclosed to me that the line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either -- but right through every human heart -- and through all human hearts. This line shifts. Inside us, it oscillates with the years. And even within hearts overwhelmed by evil, one small bridgehead of good is retained. And even in the best of all hearts, there remains ... an unuprooted small corner of evil.”
- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

We are all here today because we are either being treated unjustly, or we feel that something is wrong, and we want to do something about it. Let me ask you, what should we do to address the state of things in this country? I am open to ideas, does anyone have any suggestions?

 

Trust me, I have thought long and hard about the problems we are experiencing. I honestly believed the problems in this country came as a result of our tendency to fall into the extreme socialist agenda that is overwhelmingly rampant in our country right now. I was confronted about a year ago by a friend who told me the problems we are facing are not driven by government, but by corporations. He then went on to explain that corruption is at the heart of corporations and therefore the problems we are experiencing in this country.

That comment stopped me quite literally, and forced me to reconsider my viewpoint. I did concede his view that corruption is the root cause of our problems, but it is corruption of our government bureaucracies that is the greatest evil and not corporate corruption.

This fall I had a lengthy conversation with my friend Randy Hillier, and I was expressing my frustration with the right side of the spectrum splitting itself apart. I do a lot of thinking about what is going on in our society and my viewpoints are pretty firmly entrenched. I am an excellent example of the old saying “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks”. Well this old dog was confronted, and ultimately challenged to the core with what Randy proceeded to say.

He said that our movement is not about being politically right minded or politically left minded. He said it is about Truth. That is right, Truth. We need to live Truth, we need to speak truth, and we need to expect truth. It is untruth that is destroying our country. It is not about our evil politicians, or our evil corporations or about our evil civil servants. They are all the aggregate result of millions of miniscule evil decisions we have made and continue to make every day by each and every one of us.

An example in my life was brought to light by my cottage neighbour Lillian. Lil was a lot like my grandmother, a sweet old lady, but don’t you dare cross her. Let me clarify, my cottage is in Michigan, on the beautiful shore of western Lake Huron. I would describe Lil as an American Princess, she was well to do and lived an incredibly charmed life.

Back to the story. One day we were running late, and had to hustle to get to the border before it got busy. Well just before we were about to leave, I always do a walk around to make sure things are as they should be, I discovered that our shed had been broken into. On closer inspection I found a tool had been stolen. I bought it used and was about $100.00 loss. It was one of those O Crap moments, then I scrambled to find another lock, put it on and headed for home and promptly forgot about the incident. Well, next time I saw Lil, she queried me about the incident. Specifically about what I did about it. I informed her that it was no big deal and I did not do anything about it. Well, I got a serious scolding, and was informed in no uncertain terms that if I wanted to continue to be a welcome part of the community, I had better not let anything like that happen again without informing the Police. Her view point, and I have to agree with her, was that if I let the perpetrator away without informing the Police, I was enabling that person to go on and rob someone else, or maybe even something worse. Why did I not call the Police? How many of you would call the Police for a theft of $100.00? I can’t answer for you, but for me personally, I have heard enough stories of victims being treated disrespectfully, and robbery especially being disregarded and disrespected by the Police here in Canada, that I do not consider it worth my time to deal with it. It is easier to take the hit and move on.

In my opinion, that very small decision to not call the Police started happening in Canada about 50 years ago. Very slowly at first, but it aggregated over and over again, which emboldened the Police to not treat robbery seriously, which in turn discouraged victims from calling the Police, which further emboldened the Police leading into a vicious spiral that we are in today. I used this as an example, and I am sure the Police have broad enough shoulders to handle a little criticism. This pattern exists across the Governmental spectrum whether it be education, medical, legal, municipal, or any of the other myriad of government agencies.

The reality is, I am not criticizing the Police, or even the government as it exists right now. I am criticizing my Parent’s generation that allowed the ball to start rolling, my generation that accepted the ball as it is and the feeling of powerlessness to do anything about it. I am also blaming every Canadian myself included, who is willing to acquiesce to the injustice we are now experiencing across the spectrum. It is easy to blame a corrupt Trudeau, or the corrupt system. It is not so easy to blame the person that looks at you in the mirror for the small misstep that no one will notice. Trudeau exists as our Prime Minister because of the aggregate of millions of small decisions that he is the best person for the job. Our bureaucrats and corporations are corrupt because of millions of small decisions that encourage them to be so. In Jordan Peterson’s book the 12 rules for life, one of his rules is to clean up your room. It seems incredibly mundane, but if you want the world to change, the only way that will happen is to take a long hard look in the mirror and start cleaning your own room.

To Quote Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn: “In keeping silent about evil, in burying it so deep within us that no sign of it appears on the surface, we are implanting it, and it will rise up a thousand fold in the future. When we neither punish nor reproach evildoers, we are not simply protecting their trivial old age, we are thereby ripping the foundations of justice from beneath new generations.” ― Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago 1918–1956

In closing, Yuri Bezmenov another Soviet Russian who defected in the 1970’s effectively described the systems at play that will ultimately undermine a society such as we are currently experiencing. He insisted that at any stage along the way, the evil can be stopped almost immediately if that society as a whole would get on their knees and pray.

To quote 2 Chronicles 7:14 "If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land". I would like to close by reciting the Lords Prayer. Please Join me. Thank you.

Wayne Baker