[Ottawa – February 25, 2025] The federal Liberal Party has edged ahead of the Conservative Party for the first time since May 2022 – albeit by a statistically insignificant margin. At 38 and 37 poi…
To be honest, it’s far more than that. Those are merely symptoms of a greater problem, which is why conservatism has taken such a strong hold not just in Canada, but in probably half of the world. You keep hearing about far right nationalists gaining in the polls or even winning elections in Europe, not just with Trump down south.
When the world is changing rapidly, and the consequences of that change is making life harder, people tend to want to hold on to what little is still good rather than push for the next change to make things better. It’s basic evolutionary loss aversion, which is far stronger in human psyche than hope. Of course, that only goes as far as until people start feeling that they have almost nothing left to lose, in which case they start flocking to gambling in ever greater numbers (you should see how much sports gambling has been making lately while the lotto and traditional casinos have been at it as strong as ever).
The most frustrating thing about all of this is that our leaders are have little to do with what’s been going bad all over the world (well, except in a few areas like housing), while they are also the only real force that can make things better. Instead, populist politicians that say whatever feels good while making the entire situation worse due to a combination of skewed incentives and incompetence keep getting voted in.
This has been the cause of many of hour greatest historical tragedies, and we are repeating them once again. Just look at how the US is starting to resemble 1930s Germany or Italy.
To be honest, it’s far more than that. Those are merely symptoms of a greater problem, which is why conservatism has taken such a strong hold not just in Canada, but in probably half of the world. You keep hearing about far right nationalists gaining in the polls or even winning elections in Europe, not just with Trump down south.
When the world is changing rapidly, and the consequences of that change is making life harder, people tend to want to hold on to what little is still good rather than push for the next change to make things better. It’s basic evolutionary loss aversion, which is far stronger in human psyche than hope. Of course, that only goes as far as until people start feeling that they have almost nothing left to lose, in which case they start flocking to gambling in ever greater numbers (you should see how much sports gambling has been making lately while the lotto and traditional casinos have been at it as strong as ever).
The most frustrating thing about all of this is that our leaders are have little to do with what’s been going bad all over the world (well, except in a few areas like housing), while they are also the only real force that can make things better. Instead, populist politicians that say whatever feels good while making the entire situation worse due to a combination of skewed incentives and incompetence keep getting voted in.
This has been the cause of many of hour greatest historical tragedies, and we are repeating them once again. Just look at how the US is starting to resemble 1930s Germany or Italy.