Who looks out for the poor?

EDITOR:

Canadian “sheeple” have been trained into too much trust: in the media, in politicians, in experts and pundits of all stripes. We have too much education to believe our own senses. We need the government to do something. Who says so?

The tired old rhetoric is that we need more foreign investors; we need free trade deals that are anything but free. The conservatives are still trying to sell privacy and the markets even after they have spectacularly failed us; then demand we save them with trillions of tax dollars that the rich do not contribute to. Is this a fair system?

Why do people stand by while politicians give away tax breaks and subsidies to shareholders? Shouldn’t human persons – the poor and homeless be cared for first? U of C public policy wonks and spokespeople for the rich (UPC) say we must provide the poor shareholders with a “level playing field.” They have nothing but rhetoric for the homeless and hungry kids who only get directions to the food banks.

This is the result of Reagan/Thatcher “Greed is Good” brainwash. Why is the Alberta cowboy media so accepting of abuse of the human spirit, while praising profit? (Yet we still claim to be “Christians.” I wonder what Jesus would say today.)

Why does the Lethbridge Herald print two full pages, sandwiching all the news between UPC endorsements by the discredited Harper? Is The Herald biased? Who pays for advertisements for the poor?

This system seems a blatant double standard to me. Corporations get cash handouts, while the poor must depend on charity at the food bank. The homeless don’t even get that – governments insist you have to have an address and a phone number (even if it is registered in the Bahamas). It’s the system, stupid.

DON RYANE, LETHBRIDGE