No reason to distrust scientist as opposed to politician

Venerable Tradition: Venue of first National Negro Convention, which in 1830 organised one of the first recorded boycotts—of slave-produced goods. Global boycotts could fill the void in global democracy that would otherwise allow practices such as tar-sands oil production to be put to the vote. Mother Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church 1829

Every catchment issue is set to become more acute.

Scientists and economists are warning us with increasing urgency of impending environmental and social calamities—damage, ozone depletion, and energy depletion caused by humanity’s excesses.

Politicians seem to greet these dire warnings with the blank stares of road-dwelling chickens, unable to comprehend the enormity of the approaching Kenworth. They then have the audacity to harp on about ‘the road to economic recovery’—akin to rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic.

Economics is but one component to a country’s health. People require things like a sense of pride, security, nationality and purpose—things that rabid-capitalism and globalisation have eroded. Look no further than the professional sporting world, to see national disillusionment as the hero is lured away by the chequebook. I’m not a complete anti-capitalist, but metaphorically I think the pendulum has smashed through the side of the cabinet and is about to topple the clock.

Leadership is a trait most of us instinctively seek. From childhood, we look to our parents. Throughout our education we learn best from people we respect. And as we engage in employment we learn skills from contemporaries. Therefore you could conclude at the top of the social pyramid we would expect similar qualities in the nation’s leader: Someone with a dream, driven by a sense of purpose, who displays clarity of thought and confronts issues head-on.

Like a worn-out record, politicians spin us the same rhetoric every election, then we watch the campaign façades melt away to reveal concealed agendas, deceit, social manipulation… It wearies me that they believe we will continue to accept it.

It’s a game where anything goes to stay on top, not what’s best for the land. The very land I might add that our ancestors ventured across great oceans to claim, and which the government is currently selling off.

I harbour concerns that by refusing to acknowledge the impending dangers, politicians are leaving us ill-prepared for the future.

I have no reason to distrust a scientist, as opposed to a politician.