By Chris Jordan-Stevens
The rhetoric of oversimplification: Cashing in on our socio-economic illiteracy
With the Conservative leadership race underway, I’m reminded why I’m not—and likely never will be—a conservative. I won’t bore you with the details of my socio-economic beliefs here. This reach for power has brought to light a bigger problem in Canadian politics, one that impacts all dimensions of the political spectrum: political parties think we’re stupid.
Here I’ll be focusing on the important topic of inflation, though I think any hot button issue could be substituted.
Each party is trying to lay blame for inflation on an external source. The Conservatives blame the Liberals, who blame geopolitical unrest in Europe. By contrast, the NDP fingers the vague enemy of ‘corporate greed’, a feature of reality which pre-existed current inflation rates by (I don’t know) forty decades. All of them are wrong, but not for the reason you may think.
They are all wrong because they are all right. Yes, Liberal stimulus spending could have been more targeted. Yes, the war in Ukraine has led to increased commodity pricing. Yes, the COVID-recession has squashed smaller businesses, making way for their larger competitors.
These statements aren’t wrong, but they are a sliver of the truth. None of these explanations sufficiently explain inflation as it currently exists. In order to lay the blame in any of these ways, the topic of inflation first has to be simplified until it’s distorted beyond recognition.
Why do our political parties expect us to be convinced of such watered-down views? As a recent CBC article points out, “political rhetoric on inflation is out of touch with reality, experts say”. If this rhetoric is so out of touch with reality, why do parties expect us to comfortably swallow the illusion?
It can’t be because they are convinced by them. Politicians know full well how nuanced socio-economic problems are. They have ground-floor access to the chaotic intersection between money and fairness.
There is only one alternative: they must believe that we are, or can be, convinced of this watered-down version of reality. But if they think a tweetable talking point can satisfy our need for an explanation, then they must think we’re stupid.
Pierre Poilievre thinks we’re stupid. He expects us to blame the central bank—i.e. government spending—for inflation. But monetary policy can’t sort out supply-chain disruptions or increase the supply of gas.
Inflation can happen without any change in the real supply of money. Money supply is one side of a many-faced coin. Also, Poilievre has no explanation for how he would’ve handled COVID-recession differently. Would he have refused to stimulate the economy when it needed it most?
Jagmeet Singh thinks we’re stupid. In a recent Instagram post, he correctly points out that inflation is running high. He then goes on to say that the cost of living is skyrocketing while CEOs and mega-corporations make record profits. Grotesque inequality existed before, and will sadly exist after the current inflationary economic pressures. There is no argumentative fabric between the two points, at least as he presents them. As an NDP supporter, I hope the party develops a more nuanced economic position. There is an argument to make here, but the party doesn’t respect our intelligence enough to make it. Modern monetary theory, for example, lends itself well to a left-friendly economic model for government spending, taxation, and inflation. Instead, Jagmeet Singh exploits the ideological soft spot of his political base, much like Poilievre is doing with the ‘freedom fighters’.
Yes, Justin Trudeau thinks we’re stupid too. While the Liberal Party has presented a more nuanced view of inflation—for that, we have Chrystia Freeland to thank—it has also been mired in contradiction. On the one hand, the Liberal government blames inflation on external factors, first COVID-19 and now the war in Ukraine. At the same time, the Liberal government admits that monetary policy, which sets controls on the supply of money, will have a role to play in taming inflation (Liberal budget 2022, p. 13). But if the supply of money matters, then so does the degree of government spending. Perhaps the Liberal government should take responsibility for their part, especially when they are prepared to defend the outcomes of their emergency spending. And, in my view, they should be prepared: without that spending, the economic effects of COVID would’ve been more disastrous.
Rhetoric in politics is unavoidable. But if leaders are expecting us to be swayed by blatantly partisan versions of reality, then I’m worried for our political future. They would risk being discovered only if they were confident that their straw men might be confused for real ones. Sadly, they must have enough evidence to know that, with the proper set of instructions, we will fight scarecrows.
Why do they expect us to be so gullible? (That’s a rhetorical question.)
Christopher Jordan-Stevens is a writer, researcher, and activist. He is currently focused on the local housing crises, but has many interests, ranging from philosophy to economics.
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The sad truth is that politicians will say and promise anything and blame the other parties for all the problems that we face. The sad thing is that they don’t think we are stupid, they know that 95% of us are stupid.
Good article, Mr. Jordan-Stevens, and great comment, Mr. Brian Samuell. Thank you.
“rile my emotions to bypass my brain and get a vote.” In keeping with the simple slogan trend: yup
There is a huge cohort of society that this whole debate has ignored. They now have little chance of owning a home, running a small business, job security, or faith that the society controlled by the selfish, rich old men that cannot see past the current political parties rhetoric will run the world in their favor.
But as these old people die they are leaving their mess to this cohort to pay for and fix. They all agree that the current big three are not capable of change and that fighting them without a viable alternative is useless.
Once this current old generation is decimated, alternatives like the Green Party will govern and begin the work to fix not only Canada, but the world. I have faith that these generations will succeed.
In the meantime, I too will sit back and watch these old men debate which one of them should retain political power but I’ll vote Green and hope it’s not to late.
When we pay them to mislead us is it any wonder we are at this point now. Your correct Mr Stevens they all think we are stupid. Biggest threat to humanity Bad Government .
To Terry Cowan: In the spirit of your delightful humour, I do so hope I’m on that list! I have a teeny, tiny, itsy bitsy bump on my Covid vaccination injection site. I hope I don’t beep the next time we go through security. ????
Somewhere there is a government database that has a list of names of the few people in North America that are capable of critical thinking and take responsibility for their actions. These individuals are tracked through really really really tiny micro-chips that were injected with their vaccinations. They are made in the secret nano-tech lab just between Novar and Kearney. Right next to the factory that invented the toothbrush.
Disclaimer: For those who may think this is actually true – I’m truly full of crap and lying through my teeth. Just practicing “the art of persuasion”. Did it work?
Great article Chris.
T.
While I agree with much of what you say, it is worth noting that these tidal forces were unleashed in the aftermath of WWII. The Bretton Woods agreement (1944) was instrumental in establishing the U.S. dollar as the reserve currency of the world and pegged it as being fully convertible to gold ($35 U.S.D. per ounce). The U.S., at that time, controlled approximately 2/3 of the world’s gold supply and insisted that the U.S. dollar would be the reserve currency. It worked massively in favour of the U.S. (and Canada, as its “sister democracy”) for a time, because U.S. industrial capacity (as well as Canadian) was undamaged by the ravages of WWII (unlike the European industrial base). European elite globalists (read leftover fascists–it is very doubtful that Hitler would have risen to power without their support) smarting over their defeat, began their attack on the Bretton Woods system. They used various financial methods to achieve their goal of taking the world back to a type of the mercantilist system–a primitive form of capitalism, that existed as Europe emerged out of feudalism. Under mercantilism, only the very wealthy and politically well-connected have rights and privileges. Everyone else is subject to the whims of the elites. The Scottish economist (and devoutly moral man), Adam Smith, believed that mercantilism was immoral, as it was just another form of the subjugation of the great mass of humanity which had existed in the many and varied empires of the past. Smith is considered to be the father of modern capitalism and it has been a great boon to many.
To today’s mercantilist elites, modern China is the ideal of that which they hope will dominate world economies. The World Economic Forum, under Klaus Schwab, would represent this type of money power–where only the wealthy elites will own most everything through, their various mega-corporations. For the great mass of humanity, on the other hand, “…you will own nothing and you will be happy…” (he actually stated this, by the way). They are determined to undermine American leadership of the West.
In 1971-73, they achieved a partial victory, when the U.S.D. became no longer convertible to gold. It set in place the financial debacle that we are facing today.
Thank you, Mr. Jordan-Stevens, a balanced article and viewpoint. Why the dumbing-down of rhetoric, etc.?
My 2 cents (non-inflationary) are the combination of populism, wedge, and identity politics in media.
Also, I suggest that the significance of Canadian History and Canadian Civics should be taught by their specialists in the public education realm.
I appreciate articles which may teach me something, not just rile my emotions to bypass my brain and get a vote.
We are still living with a pandemic which has currently morphed into an endemic; there may/may not be a flare up of another variant. Climate change is a decades old, slow-moving crisis which is gaining speed. This is not just a world issue, but a Canadian one and fortunately one addressed in education.
On a very local note, the Green Party is very much looking like the former Progressive Conservative party of my younger days. A progressive replacement for current Provincial Conservatives; there is a thoughtful platform, one knows where they are going. As per usual, the DF Conservatives are less developed and less clear in their policy platform (preferring to capture the identity of the white, male, trades worker with a truck). Parties with simple catch phrases (e.g. the Common Sense Revolution, Buck-a-Beer) are short, mean very little – but are campaign ad bites that are easily chewable, pureed baby food if you like.