Face-to-face talks are far more respectful
By Letter to the Editor on March 17, 2018.
Re: “‘Clash of Ideas’ offer made,” Feb. 14 I’m pleased to see other readers of the Comments page extending coffee invitations. I had the pleasure of coffee with Mr. David Condon recently. Although I believe we are polarized politically I believe we found we shared some common ground. For example, we both believe there is too much wealth in too few hands in this world. This concentrated wealth stops our political systems from functioning in the long-term best interests of the people they represent. We also agreed face-to-face communication is far more respectful and requires more thought than writing in traditional or electronic media. Almost everyone is 10-feet tall and bulletproof when they can’t see the other person’s face. The conversation between David and myself reminded me two people can read the same material and come to different understandings of it. But it is possible for these different people to come to agreement on a subject, view or belief from paths of different understanding. That gives me hope for tomorrow. What we do with our commonly held beliefs and opinions shapes our society’s future. I told David it is always better to talk than fight. To trade gold for blood is always a good trade. Talking and sharing is always better than fighting and stealing. Talking respectfully and sharing is what has made Canada from the beginning. History shows that when we start fighting and stealing things go bad. I would like to remind Mr. Peter Mueller, respectfully, my coffee invitation is still open. It is also open to Mr. David Gue and anyone else with the courage of conviction to to set their name to their words regarding in Peter’s piece “Poisonous partisanship at the ballot box.” The editor of this page can help you get in touch with me. Leath Johnston Medicine Hat 11-10
I certainly agree with Leath that face to face talks should be a lot better however that wasn’t what we found in 2003 when six of us formed SUN (Seniors United Now) The idea was to travel the province speaking to senior groups to point out to them what Ralph Klein’s policies were doing to them and going to do to them down the road. We had the support of many of the MLAs from the Lougheed and Getty eras they knew Klein was destroying this province. Many of the seniors were very receptive and certainly understood that we were right, however the vast majority of them called us Traitors, Communists, Leftists, Left- wing -nuts, or Closet Liberal, Ralph Klein was their hero and he could do no wrong. They went around talking about all the wonderful things he was doing for them, but when you asked them to give you a list of all these wonderful things they couldn’t do it, everything he had done took money our of our pockets and created the huge financial mess we are in today. Then we watched some of these same seniors begin whining about their huge power bills, property taxes, long wait times in emergency rooms, and the huge increase in cost of groceries but refused to admit that Ralph Klein had anything to do with it, and sadly many of them still feel the same way while they watch their money disappear. However the ones whose families are being financially destroyed by the highest long-term health care fees in the country, they believe now that it’s too late. Welcome to Ralph’s World, as he called it, or as the lawyers, accountants, oilmen , bankers, and former MlAs know we have been screwed, while Norway and Alaska enjoy what their oil wealth has done and is doing for them.