A Shallow Generation's Choice

By I.M. Ulysses

The victory of Justin Trudeau in the federal election is a bad sign. Not because it represents the return of a party that has done more to damage this country in the last century than any other. Not even because the pronouncements of the new Prime Minster-designate demonstrate him to be a vacuous idiot. It's really the fact that it means the latest generation of voters are a very shallow lot; choosing style over substance, and the superficial over the substantial.

This is the only logical explanation I can imagine as to why they would vote-in such and gaseous windbag as Trudeau. Everything he said before and during the campaign, including his wild-eyed rants about how he would grow 'the economy from the heart outwards,' struck a chord with people. The voters took his every word, it seems, as somehow being 'profound' and 'deep,' instead of the ravings of a preening, pretentious idiot.

Now I'm an educated man. I've studied accounting and economics in college. I understand the ideas behind debits, credits, the Multiplier Effect, Keynesian Economic theory, Supply-side economics, and the Law of Diminishing Returns. But in NONE of those classes I took,  nor later in my professional life, was I ever told (or discovered how ) the best way to increase the GDP (that's Gross Domestic Product, for those who voted for Trudeau)  was by 'the heart outwards.' Nor have I yet discovered how the federal budget (or any budget)  can, and or will, 'balance itself.' 

That said, I wanted to test the validity of Trudeau's claims, just in case he really was on to something. So after the election I called my bank and told them that they should not worry about me paying this month's credit card bill because it will 'balance itself.' 

I then suggested that if they really wanted my wife and I to be happy customers (along with thousands of others), the best way to do it was to voluntarily cut the interest charges on our card, reduce other fees, and grow their business with us 'from the heart outwards.' 
IF they did that, I told them, I would happily send them a photo of Marion and I, along with a book filled with our favourite sayings.  But, best of all, I would invite them to a party using the very credit cards they let us keep.

Needless to say, I don't think it worked too well; we still ended up having to pay the credit card bill (darn it!). I'm also not entirely sure they didn't laugh at me on the phone, and told others working with them that I was a raving idiot (or worse).  But I am sure of one thing; I am sure  that I amused them for a few moments.

That is Trudeau in a nutshell. Will he keep us amused for the next four years? So far it seems very likely. It's also just as likely that by then we, as a nation, will owe lots more money than we do now. But that is the price we will pay for choosing style over substance, and a vacuous idiot over a credible and honest man like Stephen Harper to be our Prime Minister too.