Is business really best at running government?

I am confused when someone suggests, “We need more business people running the government.” What kind of business experience are they talking about? Not all business people are successful in business; 60 per cent of businesses fail in the first five years. What qualifies as a successful business person — just making money?

Mr. Kenney doesn’t want education to show how business serves people — the practical as opposed to political theory. What qualifies a person to participate in city or any government? Is a lawyer or accountant any better at administering the affairs of government than a teacher or an artist? What is the difference between a business and government? Should they be judged with the same criteria? Wasn’t government formed to do what business couldn’t or wouldn’t.

The corporate petro-chemical and banking structures push endless growth and “free trade.” They control the farming methods, and then pull the production out of the hands and mouths of the hungry to send it around the world for the highest bidder. Their control of fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides creates health problems everywhere, and does little to relieve world hunger. It is curious how the pharmaceutical ads on TV claim to fix health problems created by their petro-chemical cousins, by feeding us more chemicals. They discourage us from looking at the traditional way of eating organic food from healthy soil, avoiding the stress-filled tech work, exercising in fresh air, drinking clean water and getting rejuvenating rest. Far too simple and some think impossible today.

Neoconservative business purpose is not humanitarian, but simply profit making; the moneymad system described by Fritjof Capra in “The Turning Point.” Do we really want business running government? The right-wing spillover social agenda from the U.S. is a wakeup call. Canadians do not need the social deconstruction here.

Don Ryane

Lethbridge