The rise of protectionist populism in the US will speed up the robotics revolution.

Photo credit: Merrill College of Journalism Press Releases via Visual Hunt / CC BY-NC For years people have been predicting that robotics and automation will start taking middle class and working class jobs at an alarming rate. So far, those predictions been quietly coming true and it is probably going to get much worse in…

After Brexit and Trump, electoral reform is more important now than it was in 2015

Photo credit: FutUndBeidl via Visualhunt / CC BY Fortunately, despite skepticism by many, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says that electoral reform is still on the table. When Trudeau was elected just over a year ago, his promise that 2015 was the last election to be fought under the “first past the post” system. Since that…

If the left wants to win the big fights, we need to step up our game

Photo credit: gabrielsaldana via VisualHunt / CC BY-SA As a dual citizen of the United States and Canada I’ve had the opportunity to participate in and observe both political systems. One of the things that I’ve found as a constant in both countries, and in the UK as well from what I’ve observed, is that…

Trudeau’s pipeline decisions were bad optics but good politics

Photo via Unsplash via Visualhunt.com As I type this, activists in BC are preparing to protest the Kinder Morgan pipeline. Everyone, including the Liberal government, knew that was coming. It may very well even be part of Trudeau’s plan. Burnaby, BC and the “line 3” pipeline which runs from Alberta to Wisconsin. Trudeau rejected the…

If you want to defeat Trump in 2020, don’t buy American

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via VisualHunt.com / CC BY-SA Re-election is the norm in US politics and there is really only one issue that changes that. Regardless of where you live in the world, you can have a significant impact on the 2020 US election. Historically, the best way to defeat a US incumbent is…

Want to stop Trump? Join the Democratic party and work hard

Photo credit: DonkeyHotey via Visual Hunt / CC BY Revolutions almost never actually happens. The things that people call revolutions are usually the crescendo of a movement which has worked hard and systematically for decades to create change. For example, the arrival of marriage equality in the US in 2015 was the high point of…

Justin Trudeau and the progress of democratic reform

Photo credit: World Bank Photo Collection via VisualHunt.com / CC BY-NC-ND A few days ago, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said something true about electoral reform and people freaked out.  Ok, most people didn’t freak out and the ones who did are primarily opposition partisans who want electoral reform because they believe it will improve their…

2016 is the “Return of the Jedi” of US elections

According to Harry Enton at fivethirtyeight.com, US men are treating 2016 as ‘just another election’. Women, for reasons that should be obvious to anyone following events, are taking it far more seriously. It is incredible to me that anyone isn’t taking this election seriously, and not just because of Donald Trump. This is the Return…

No, you can’t support Donald Trump without being a bigot

Photo credit: DonkeyHotey via VisualHunt / CC BY-SA If you lived in Germany in 1932 and voted for Hitler, you were anti-semitic. It doesn’t matter how you felt about Jewish people, you were empowering a regime built on hate, one that courted and counted on the support of bigots in their quest for power. I…

Will Donald Trump use the RNC to quit the race?

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via VisualHunt.com / CC BY-SA If Donald Trump doesn’t really want to be president and doesn’t want to lose the election, the Republican National Convention is his best change to walk away as a hero to the GOP rank and file. Ever since Trump became the GOP frontrunner there has been…