S3E8 Social Democracy

I believe a country should be run more like a company. In a company, the CEO is chosen by a board of directors who understand the job, know the candidates, and have a process for evaluating them.

A leader's most important quality should be the ability to lead. If they have some minor flaws, that's normal—they are human beings. We do not need to treat political leaders as if they are perfect or chosen by God. And, of course, not everyone even believes in the same God.

Some social rules that are meant to create order can become overly restrictive and start to feel more like a form of dictatorship than a fair system.

Many social movements and government institutions begin with good intentions. Examples include labor unions, social services, social justice movements e.g. Woke culture, and even some forms of centralized government. However, when there are no effective checks and balances, these systems can be abused or pushed too far. Instead of protecting fairness, they can become unfair themselves and slowly move a democratic society toward excessive control.

A person's success or failure is partly the result of their own choices and efforts, but it is also influenced by their circumstances and the environment they live in. In a social democracy, the goal should be to give everyone as equal an opportunity as possible by creating fair conditions and access to resources.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Welcome to Life Workshop, where we discuss the forgotten basics. The topic of this episode is democracy, but this time about social democracy versus political democracy that we spoke in the previous podcast. Again, Keller is with me, this young lady, that uh she's more fresh about the subject. Do you want to say a hi, Keller? No. Hi.

SPEAKER_02 0:27

Hello.

SPEAKER_00 0:29

Um, so one thing before I get started, uh, in the previous podcast, we talked about uh you know a political democracy personally. I believe a country, to be honest, can be run like a like um a company. I think that is the best way. In a company, for example, you would not know who the CEO is. Why should you know? Then who elects the CEO, you know, uh uh board of directors. Board of directors are the people that they know the job very well, they know the process of vetting, and they know how to, you know, in case the uh person that they become the CEO doesn't do a good job, you know, they put him away and they get another one. So, in my opinion, really, that is one of the best ways to do it. And if CEO doesn't need to be known by everybody, I think, and this is another podcast that we'd like to talk about that sometimes I think we look towards some idols. We make people idols. For example, president of a country becomes the biggest thing. Why? He's just choosing the least where the country goes. He doesn't need to know anything else, really. You know, it's like the CEO of a dairy queen doesn't know how to make ice cream, although he himself started it. You know, he doesn't need to know make ice cream how to make ice cream. But anyway, that's uh this for another topic that you know I think sometimes we are looking for idols, and that is the problem. But if a CEO is just a CEO, that's all it is, you know, they're doing their job. If they don't, good, they will fire, get fired, somebody else comes and does it. But and when, anyways, I'm not gonna go too far with this. But when it comes to the social democracy, just to kind of clarify what it means, as a for the sake of example, for example, if there is a running race going on, a marathon, the political democracy is when they say everybody starts at this point and finishes there, and that's not gonna change. Or the route that you are running is the same for everybody. That is the political democracy, and that they will check exactly when you start, regardless of who you are, and when you finish. So it's a fair game. That is political democracy. The social democracy is when they say, Did you get to eat? Did you have enough food to eat? Do you have proper shoes to run? Did you have enough training? Did you have somebody to train you? Did you have enough time? So the further details it goes, it becomes more and more socialist to become more fair in that aspect as well. Uh so anyway, so this is a kind of a gist of what it is political versus social democracy. Now, talking about the social democracy, again, as I said, in the United States, for example, social democracy is not that much. We see a huge gap between the rich and poor. But in Sweden, it's not as such. In Sweden, a lot of services are for free because they tax everybody. So both are considered to be democracy, but one more social than the other one. But the social aspect now we add this from another angle. So, Killer, this question for you. Do you think you have the freedom of a speech?

SPEAKER_01 4:10

Um yes, yes, and no. In Canada, we have the freedom of expression, so but it has legal limits, right? Like I can't just go around saying he hate speech or defamation, threats, harassment, or perjury, like lying under oath or anything. But so technically, yes, sort of no, but also I feel like there's a lot of pressure from like peers, peer pressure, or society itself, where you're it's not socially acceptable to say things. Technically, I could say it because it's you know not in those legal limits, but because have society, I probably shouldn't say some of those things.

SPEAKER_00 4:54

Actually, you nailed it there, you know, because you are some of it is rules and regulations. Yes, you cannot go defame somebody, you cannot go have a hate speech. I agree with that. Um, and it should be as such, because freedom is not about just your freedom, it's about my freedom as well. Yes. And um, when we live in a society, you will never ever be free with that, meaning that sometimes people they think our freedom should not invade each other's, you know. When you drive, you have to follow the rules, period. You cannot be driving in any direction that you want to. And the same thing is you know, living in a society that and then the society, the busier and the bigger it gets, the rules become more. That is, and the freedom becomes less. Then you have a noise, for example, limitation. You cannot be loud, for example, at a certain time. It's not a matter of democracy, it's a matter of rules and regulations. However, sometimes those rules and regulations, to some extent, they become actually more of a dictatorship. For example, you cannot sometimes use certain words. I'm gonna use this as an example. A friend of mine, he's a specialist, and then once he has this uh uh 14-year-old patient, and then I'm not gonna say because I don't want to reveal which kind of a specialty he has, and then um ask for can I do this? And then which was appropriate, you know. He says, you know what? No, you're a bit overweight, and you should not be doing that, it doesn't work. Then the mother gets offended and complains to the college of physicians, and he gets reprehended to that extent, and he gets so, and he's a friend, he's the nicest guy. I know for a fact that he would never ever be rude. I know that he's a very, very nice guy. I know him very well. Yeah, but he was so offended that he said, Mo, I'm gonna work for another year or two and I'm gonna leave. I'm done, I'm done. Because this has happened again a second time, that you have to be careful with what word you use, you don't hurt somebody's feeling and these things. Well, anyway, so in my opinion, at this point, hey, this is not democracy anymore, and it's not a he hasn't done anything wrong. The boy is heavy, that's all it is. And sure, if you want to, you can come and say that you know what, there are other options, but not reprehension. You cannot reprehend the person, you know, and that is very, you know, insulted him, it was an insult to him. And then we complain that we don't have enough specialists. And I'm not saying that he's gonna leave within a year or two. Most likely he gets angry and he says that. But chances are very high that it affects him in a negative way. That's a very normal thing to see. And he might really leave earlier, too. And then we complain we don't have a specialist. Why a specialist? We push them away with the stupid rules that we have.

SPEAKER_01 8:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:16

And my question would be: if this boy goes to a street and somebody tells him he's heavy, who would he complain to at that point? And if really it is something that is that important to him or to his mother, do something about it. You know, I cannot understand. This is this has gone too far, as far as I'm concerned, that I'm responsible for your feelings, which is the exact opposite that normality is thought that you're responsible for your feelings. And he didn't say anything, he just said you're overweight, and he is overweight. Yeah, and he didn't give it a good connotation or a bad connotation, it was just a fact, it's a fact. Now you can choose to take it in any way that you want to. Actually, now this um it just reminds me of something else. It was some time ago, you know, we were standing, and then somebody said that uh was asking who's the head of this group. Then one of the friends said that that guy there, and he was trying to kind of address, and then um, he was just uh God couldn't understand. I said, Look, the black guy, he's the head of the group, and then my friend said, Oh my god, you said black, he is black. It's not a bad thing to be black. What's your problem with the black? You know, it was very funny that seriously, you know, you are just saying fact, it's very easy that you see can identify him better because he's just one among ten. Yeah, if it was a boy among girls, it was a boy. You wouldn't say, Oh my god, you said a boy or a girl. You know, it was just silly that we give it a bad or a good connotation, and you're overweight, and you're not giving it bad or good connotation, you do that anyway. So sometimes I said it's not democracy anymore, and this is not rules and regulations, it's just actually dictatorship. Another thing that I have heard recently, if, for example, you're giving a speech and you say, ladies and gentlemen, some people they can get offended because they don't want to be called that. What shall I do about it? You know, and it's okay if somebody wants to say, I don't know, uh, you have a better word to say, you can say something that's sure, but it's not it should not become a political issue or something that the person gets reprehended. And this is actually, I would say, is the vogue culture, which I would like to do a podcast about it at one point, and to be very clear, vogue culture was had started on a very good grounds for very good reasons, but then over time it got abused that now whoever gets offended faster is the right person. I got offended faster and more. So I'm right, you're wrong. Yeah, it has become something in that line, and it is not just about a vote culture, it's about anything and everything. They start with good reasoning, and then over time they get abused. Social services started for very good reasons, really to help people, but then it has become in a way that it's getting abused, and the system to a very good extent allows that. Unions, they got started for very good reasons to support the employees, right? But it has become to the extent that now you are abusing the employer, and it goes on and on, and this you know, I can talk with really with good reasoning and with cases that I'm aware of to see that it is not fair, and when we do that, the respect is gone. That's the problem. Uh, but anyway, I went a bit too far. But when we talk about normally I do, as long as it's not a surprise, but when it comes to rules and regulations, they are very good, but at one point, when there is no uh checks and balances, they go too far. That it has become they're choking me. Another good example is I have done a podcast on this. Why am I swinging my bank? Is that my bank? I wanted to transfer some money somewhere, they didn't do it. I provide them with anything that they wanted, they didn't do it. Why they didn't do it for my own safety. I'm not kidding you. That is the whole time they said that the whole time they said it's for your own safety. Oh, jeez, and the court date is actually on July 16th, I believe. So I'm taking him to court, and I will update the podcast afterwards to see. That's the part two. Normally I tell I tell my friends as a joke, of course. I tell them, you know what? You should leave your money with me. Your money will be so safe with me that even you cannot access it, and that is exactly what the bank did to me.

SPEAKER_01 13:49

Yep, it is.

SPEAKER_00 13:51

They took a page out of your books, but anyway, so the uh when I'm talking about the woke culture, I want to be very clear. It has started, and most of the things are they are starting for good reasons, most of the things, even dictatorships they have started for good reasons to protect you. But that protection has gone too far. Everything when you see, you know, it starts for good reasons, but when the checks and balances are not there, then it takes a wrong twist. Democracy becomes chaos, rules and regulations become dictatorship. And I'm sure somebody's gonna say that. So who are you to make that decision at one point it has become you know, dictatorship, at one point it become chaos. Normally I say, look at the outcome. Did it work? You know, I understand. You know, maybe, for example, something I say, you're joking me, it's just I've gone too far. Somebody says, no, no, that is the right way of doing it. And I understand that. But again, look at the outcome in a very practical way. That when we do these kind of things, is our society becoming better? Are we living better than we used to?

SPEAKER_01 15:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:07

Anyway, so that is uh my two cents. You uh killer, you said that you wanted to say something I forgot, but anyway.

SPEAKER_01 15:15

Oh, did I forget?

SPEAKER_00 15:17

No, that uh what was that thing where before we started the podcast? You said you wanted to mention and said that if we don't address it, uh oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 15:26

When you were talking about the difference between social democracy and political democracy, you were kind of okay. This is a question for you, I guess, more than a statement. Would you say when you were using the race analogy, would you say that one is equality compared to equity?

SPEAKER_00 15:50

Can you elaborate what you mean by equality versus okay?

SPEAKER_01 15:54

So which one was the first one that you described with everybody getting just the same amount of distance and no special treatment? That one would have been equality, and then equity would have been the political? I can't remember which order.

SPEAKER_00 16:11

No, no, the the the other one would be that did they have proper training or something, or did they have proper which one was that? It it's social again, it's social basically. It's a social thing. This is the social aspect of it.

SPEAKER_01 16:25

That's kind of like equity, which I do tend to come to more often because your analogy reminded me of a different analogy that I've heard I'm in social work, so I've heard it a bunch of times. Social work and sociology, I hear it all the time. But so it kind of just describes the two and equality. So, say there's three people all different heights, and they're trying to look over a fence, right? Equality would be giving them all a stool or all of them, none of like none of them a stool. But then equity would be oh, the tall person doesn't need a stool, they can already see over the fence.

SPEAKER_02 17:01

I see.

SPEAKER_01 17:01

Give them, you know what I mean, and give the shortest person a really tall stool, kind of thing. Anyways, life is not fair. Life is not fair. But in a perfect world, I think equity would be really interesting.

SPEAKER_00 17:14

And we are we are not equal. Remember, we are not equal. Some of us we have different abundances. I'm glad that you brought this up. Uh you started the can of worm, you opened the can of worm, I should tell you that.

SPEAKER_02 17:28

Sorry.

SPEAKER_00 17:30

So, you know, we have different abundances. And then, for example, somebody's shorter, somebody's taller, somebody is better looking, somebody is you know ugly, the other one is smarter, the other one doesn't have as much of an IQ. Somebody's born in a rich family, somebody is poor, in a poor family. Somebody inherently is happy, the other one is inherently sad, you know, depressed. So all of these things do happen and we cannot control it. My suggestion is this to try to see and find what your strength is and what your abundance is. Do not try to match other people in the thing that is not your power, for example. Personally, my memory is not the best thing. I have a hard time memorizing this stuff, but I'm really good in math and algebra. Or, for example, sometimes I look at life a little bit from a different, more practical angle that I have learned over time, which potentially you see that during my you know different podcasts. So, this is my this is my strength now. If I want to go study and become, let's say, uh especially internal medicine doctor, that's one of the most awful things I can do to myself. It's Allah memorizing thing. Yeah, why should I even bother? If I'm not tall, why should I go? You know, I don't know, play basketball against the tall guy, unless but I can be quicker. Unless that's an advantage, that's another story. So, this is the problem that happens. We try to compete and act, be equal, and we try to do that, you know, in every aspect. It won't work. We are not the same. We all have some advantages, some disadvantages. We have different abundances. Instead of trying to match somebody else's abundance, don't bother with that. Find your own abundance, find your own leverage. Am I making sense? Yes, you are. Find your own leverage, forget about other people's. Even in relationships, normally I say this. I say you should give from your abundance. And abundance means something that you give and you don't deplete.

SPEAKER_01 19:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:00

And not that, for example, you say, Hey, I did this for you, then you should do the exact same thing for me. No. For example, you say that, you know, I went on the roof and cleaned, and then you should come and go on my roof to clean. There is no freaking way I'm gonna step up on the roof. I have a bit of a fear of heights. But you know, you know, I have fear of heights. I'm not gonna do it for myself, I'm not gonna do it for you, I'm not gonna do it for anybody. That is not my abundance, and that's just the problem that happens that people sometimes they want to match it. The concept of being a giver or taker. Now I'm going a bit too far to make the concept of abundance what it means. Giver or take it. Giver is somebody who gives somebody abundance, not necessarily that, okay, for example, I have more money, I can spend more, but they don't expect you to do the same thing for me. But you, for example, you look with the you're better with the computer and those kind of things, then you do some of the stuff for me. That's all it is. It's a give and take, it's a give and take, but you give from your abundance, I give from my abundance, and they may not be the same. Most likely they are not. So when it comes to life, the same thing. We have different leverages, we have different you know, abundances, we have different strengths, and we have different weaknesses. Yeah, work and find out what you're good at. That's all you need to do. Yeah, you know, and that is when we say equal, we are not. And a lot of success, yeah, success and sorry, failure that we have, some of it is has because of is because of ourselves, some of it is because of our environment. Now, you brought this up. I have to I have to bring this up. Norma I say Elon Musk, Elon Musk became Elon Musk and could succeed. If Elon Musk was not white, do you think he would be able to do the same thing? Most likely not. Most likely not. If Elon Musk was a woman doing the exact same thing but being a woman. No. If his family did not come to Canada, and then afterwards he wouldn't move to America. So a lot of success that he has is a matter of luck and circumstances. I'm not taking away a lot of it has to do maybe 50-50. I don't know what the ratio is, but a good part is himself. But he could be the same exact personality, the same drive, different circumstances, he would not succeed. That is where equality comes in. The equality comes when we provide the same circumstances for everybody, regardless. Am I making sense? You can be a man, woman, gay, straight, lesbian, do anybody. I don't care. Because that has nothing to do with genius. I want your genius.

SPEAKER_01 23:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:06

You can be good looking or ugly. Who cares? I want you for that thing. That's the only thing. Which anyway, I don't want to go further with this. But sometimes, for example, even politicians, you see, then they want to get a vote in democracy. They bring me a picture of themselves and their lovely family, and everybody is happy in that picture. You're not going to get married to my mom. You're not going to be my stepdad. I don't care how good of a dad you are. Are you a good politician? Can you imagine? I want to go for brain surgery, and my brain surgeon is such a nice guy, much less family member. He's not very good at surgery, but he's such a good dad. Exactly. I saw his picture, was very happy with his family. That's why I'm going for surgery to him. You know what a stupid way of looking at life. But we do that. We do that in other aspects because it is accepted. So I'm glad that you brought that equality. So what we can do, some of the things inherently we are different. And that somebody else has higher IQ, some has lower, somebody is taller, somebody shorter, somebody ugly, somebody you know, handsome like me. Not too many people, but any.

SPEAKER_01 24:33

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 24:34

My mama said that, and my mama does not lie, just to let you know.

SPEAKER_01 24:38

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 24:40

So that part is nature, you cannot change it. I mean, you can maybe shift it a little bit, but you cannot big time change it. That you can do, so don't fight it. But environment, that is the equality that you want to provide for everybody. I don't care who you are, I don't care about anything that inherently you have gained or not. I'll give you the same grounds. I make the environment for you to grow. That's where equality comes in place. That was pretty deep, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_01 25:18

It was. I tend to actually go towards in some circumstances. I tend to, when I was younger, I really was a quality, a quality, equality. But now as I've gotten older and I've understood the meaning of equity, I tend to go towards that more. And maybe it's just like my schooling and the type of schooling I'm taking. But for example, like social services or like um low-income housing, obviously equality would be like, oh, everybody gets low-income housing, right? But equity would be looking at everybody's differences. And obviously, Elon Musk doesn't need low-income housing. The people that, you know, don't have jobs or have disabilities and they have other things going on, they need the low-income housing. So I don't know, I kind of look at it from an equity point of view rather than an equality point of view, depending on the circumstance. I mean, all circumstances are different, but I tend to go towards equity over equality.

SPEAKER_00 26:17

Some of it I think probably we are going a little, I mean, we definitely are now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We are going a bit too far away from the main topic. But one thing that I can say is this though. Um, again, we might have been born with disabilities or disadvantages or advantages. I believe, yes, if somebody has some disadvantages that was inherently and not at their own fault, definitely as a responsibility of the society, we are supposed to help them. The same way that if something happens to myself, I become disabled. I hope to God that uh society comes together and helps me, and I will do the same for others. But sometimes if it's a choice I have made, then that's my responsibility. Now, sometimes we can say bad upbringing. Again, I'm gonna just finish it here. Bad upbringing because of that. This is the other side, it's another podcast. But you know what? I'm gonna leave it. I'm not gonna ruin it because I I wanna actually, there is a podcast that will really do this about this. That sometimes be uh equity actually was equality above quality. This is one of the subjects that I'm in. That the the quality sometimes we just say we don't care because we want everybody to have the same right. So everybody we can become not everybody, but if you want to become a brain surgeon, you can become a brain surgeon, although you're not good. You have been disadvantaged before. That's another topic. I'm gonna just leave it there. But anyway, okay, thanks for watching. Um, probably that will be the next podcast. Anyway, hope that everybody enjoys it again. Life is simple, to be honest. We make it complicated. If you just we don't clutter our own views, to be honest, we see things very clearly. Thank you all. Bye bye.