International poll finds surprising Canadian attitudes toward technocracies and dictatorships. (Graphic by World Values Survey)
Federal Liberal leader Justin Trudeau has been courting the country’s young voters. So it seems only appropriate that some of those same voters could be among the Canadians most likely to understand his controversial admiration for China’s “basic dictatorship.”
Here’s the reason: earlier, I mentioned that, in 2006, the World Values Survey asked 2,046 of us what we would think if Canada was led by a “strong leader who does not have to bother with parliament and elections.”
Surprisingly, 21.2 percent of respondents said having such a leader would be a very good or fairly good way of governing the country. But what’s even more surprising is almost 30 percent of the 404 respondents aged 15-29 years gave the same response.
Just over 48.5 percent of that age group also said having experts make political decisions rather than government would be a good way of running the country. By comparison, 39.4 percent of respondents from all age groups said the same thing.
We already have a dictator, though he is as yet subject to a limited term. And while the face of the dictator may change, and while his “political affiliation” may change, we have had the same essential ruler for decades, money, banks, oil, pharma, and the like.
“The illusion of freedom will continue as long as it’s profitable to continue the illusion. At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain, they will just take down the scenery, they will pull back the curtains, they will move the tables and chairs out of the way and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theater.”
― Frank Zappa