Calgary academic and Harper advisor Tom Flanagan has more influence on Canadian politics than most people in this country realize. He was an important informant in Lawrence Martin's imporant book, "Harperland".
A good quote from Flanagan, on pg. 47 of Harperland:
To go with Canadian election season, I am reading books about Stephen Harper, his party, and his movement. I have got Lawrence Martin's "Harperland", Marci McDonald's "The Armageddon Factor", and I have ordered Christian Nadeau's "Rogue in Power".
I thought I might put some of the interesting quotes out on this blog as I encounter them.
I started with Harperland by Lawrence Martin.
A great quote from Harper on pg. 29:
A friend from the movement asked me my thoughts on George Monbiot's article in the UK Guardian about how Fukushima actually converted him to nuclear power. George summarizes the Fukushima incident as follows:
For the seven years since he was overthrown in a coup in February 2004 there have been many different speculations about why Aristide never returned to Haiti. People argued that his exile in South Africa was comfortable, that he had fled in 2004 out of fear for his life and didn't return because of that same fear, that he was waiting for the moment when he could return to power.
Most people are interested in something that no one knows or can know: what is going to happen in Egypt? It is difficult to make predictions, especially about the future (that's from Keynes). There are lessons from past revolutions that might help us understand what is happening, but from where I'm sitting, marveling at Egyptian people's courage and looking at these utterly unanticipated and amazing events, I haven't said much because I don't have much to offer the people whose courage made this happen and whose decisions will determine how this all goes.
Philanthrocapitalism, a book by Bishop and Green, argues that philanthropy will help the public accept a new age of plutocracy (the rule by wealth). The rich are giving their money away so effectively, they say, that the public won't mind increasing inequality.
Jaron Lanier, author of "You are not a gadget", is very well-informed about what he is writing about, which is some of the social consequences of the internet, and some of the implicit ideologies that are built into the internet as we are living with it today. Lanier was one of the early minds behind virtual reality and has helped create a lot of the technology that shapes how we live and how we think. In his book, "You are not a gadget" (Knopf NY 2010) he offers some reflections on this technology, recent trends and coming trends, and the relationship of the technology to society.
For various reasons I found myself with several hours on public transit and with Raj Patel's fine book "The Value of Nothing" in hand. I really liked a few things about it. First, it's a very readable summary of a lot of economic theories (and ideologies) that guide policies today. For a more mathematical treatment of these I really like Steve Keen's "Debunking Economics" which is recommended by Jonathan Nitzan, another very interesting political economist who argues that money is the commodification of power, and makes the argument utilizing some interesting analyses of data.
