A separate reality

As a writer I just love David Miller and his stalwart troupe of barking socialist seals because they’re so generous in providing people like me with material. My colleagues at CFP and I often muse about whether or not the Millerites actually believe the things they espouse or if they are playing to a certain Toronto demographic they think will keep them in power.

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Take the cockamamie scheme of closing down shooting ranges within the city limits that Mayor Miller is imposing on Toronto. Does he really believe the blather that 40% of gun crimes are committed by perps who stole the guns from legitimate, licensed owners? The RCMP and OPP both claim the figure is closer to 10% and remember, police organizations are prone to exaggerating such figures, so the real figure is probably in the single digits, percentage wise. Does Miller actually believe that taking this action will save one life, when in every single jurisdiction that a ban on guns was imposed, the violent crime rate spiked immediately after? Britain banned private ownership of handguns back in 1996 and is now one of the most violent places on earth with a crime rate higher than that of the US. It seems to me impossible that grown-up, educated human beings would be so naive as to really believe the things espoused at Toronto’s City Hall. But then stranger things have happened. Let’s assume that Miller and his Greek Chorus are really serious about the things they espouse, believing that outlawing guns in the whole country will reduce the murder rate or that keeping cars out of the City of Toronto will stop global warming or that the city’s homeless need city-paid social workers to advocate for their well-being or that the city should be a sugar daddy to its disadvantaged citizens and tuck them into bed in city-built housing every night. The only conclusion that those of us in the real world can draw from such beliefs is that (A) the folks down at city hall are completely out of touch with reality or (B) they have been talking to each other for so long that they have become the product of intellectual inbreeding (cue the banjo). In either case it doesn’t bide well for normal people who have jobs, a mortgage, kids at school who need to be driven to soccer practice and an ailing parent that needs more care than the healthcare system is prepared to deliver. Why would the City of Toronto spends millions of tax dollars that they claim they can’t afford in an effort to lure tourists from the US and then insult the prospective visitors with the qualification that “gun totin’ Yanks” aren’t welcome? I wasn’t aware that “gun totin’ Yanks” were actually a problem in Toronto until Councillor Adam Vaughn brought it to the attention of the readers of the Toronto Star in a letter. I had never heard or read a news report of a Yank being busted in Toronto while packing heat. But hey, maybe one did, or Adam Vaughn wouldn’t have written that letter. The Miller cabal tells Toronto taxpayers they can’t afford to open pools or staff libraries, yet they can find millions to hire social workers for the homeless, buy a playhouse for a failing theatre troupe and provide funding for seminars in fulfilling lesbian S&M fantasies. Do these things sound like they are the product of a balanced mind? It’s possible that Toronto will survive the ravages of Millerrhea, which is spread through unsafe intellectual intercourse among individuals who occupy a separate reality. The only cure for what’s ailing Toronto is a strong dose of voter turnout during next municipal elections to ensure those who are elected to public office have a firm grip on reality.