Editor: George Bernard Shaw had it right when he said “We learn from experience that men never learn anything from experience.” We have recently seen crazy political brinkmanship in Washington, surrounding the gravity-defying U.S. debt ceiling. Then there were economic uncertainties and credit rating downgrades in the U.S. and Europe, causing wild swings in all stock markets.
England shocked the world with several days and nights of mindless riots by mainly disaffected youngsters. There is terrible famine in the Horn Of Africa, and ongoing religious and political strife in places like Libya, Syria and Afghanistan.
One bright spot is when Elections BC revealed that more than 1.6 million ballots were mailed in during the HST referendum. It was a decidedly higher number than Christy Clark’s government expected.
Yet this exercise in direct democracy has achieved something that has been utterly unattainable for the last two years. It has the pro-HST and anti-HST sides saying exactly the same thing. Both are claiming that the 52 per cent turn-out means their side will win. Stay tuned for the final count at the end of August.
Bernie Smith,
Parksville
