Democracy requires change

CHANGES ARE NORMAL BUT THEY HAVE TO BE BASED ON THE PAST

After hearing about the unprecedented change of the political landscape in Alberta after the election victory of the NDP, Peter MacKay, Minister of Justice, portrayed the atmosphere of the Federal Conservative caucus as a “morgue.” NDP which held four seats in A;berta Legislature won the power winning 54 seats on May 5, 2015. Changes are difficult for people who value the things that don’t change. Some people get particularly angry at changes in practice of moral ethics, such as abortion, homosexuality, and marijuana. Prayers at public fora and schools is another irritation for the conservatives. Here the “conservative” I speak about are small “c” varieties.

However, changes are inevitable. Nothing stays the same. Sages of yesteryears all agreed on the universality of change: from ancient Hebrew Psalmists to Buddha, Socrates to Jesus, they all said, “Nothing stays the same” in various ways. Then why conservatives insist that nothing should change and what is old is always good. Remember: An organism that does not change is a dead organism, will rot and stink in time. Why then facing with changes, conservatives are often angry and denounce those progressives as evil?

As a person proud of being progressive, I often feel sorry for conservative people. They are always faced with inevitability of change, because it is the universal norm. Nothing stays the same. Everything flows like a river: it’s only a matter of difference in speed. When it is young, it flows rapidly but it is narrow and its volume small. As it reaches plains, it becomes wider, volume abundant, and power enormous. However, it flows constantly changing its outlook and shape. If it stops, in no time it becomes dirty, smelly, often deadly. Water evaporates and remnant kills lives. Change is like breathing: when it stops it means death.

In the meanwhile, I do understand conservatives’ anger with those who insist on change for the sake of change. Changes can be destructive and meaningless. All positive changes must be built on the foundation of the past. In other words, they must be evolutionary and revisionary. The positive changes have to be made on the foundation of the past. Otherwise, it does not move forward, the baseless change can be regressive. Future and past are like two sides of a sheet of paper. One can not exist without the other. Progress without a basis of the past is like a balloon without a string. They may not go anywhere.

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