Today is your day Boomer! One of my most recent blogs promoted the concept of "social democracy"...the ideology that Canada follows. What is a definition of the term? According to annenbergclassroom.org, "Social democracy is a system of political thought and action that calls upon the government to provide certain social and economic rights or entitlements necessary to the well-being of all members of the community." In other words, the sense of community, sharing, working together, and collective ideals drive society. So....for those of you that believe in the words in this picture...HIGH TAXES are everywhere, on everything and they are killing us, you just don't get it. Governments tax to provide benefits for the collective good, for all people....especially the unfortunate. Imagine if you got cancer and had to pay out of your own pocket for health care. The price of private cancer treatment could be hundreds of thousands of dollars....or very expensive private health care insurance! In Canada, we have public-funded medicare...so all of us, all the time can get proper medical support. Then think...schools, highways, rapid transit, bridges, pensions(like OAS), and other social programs (like day care, senior homes, and now dental benefits) are partially or totally paid for by government and its many taxation schemes. Oh, by the way..which nations are always ranked in the top five in the world to live? Countries like Norway, Sweden and Canada...which are ALL social democracies! Boomers, be thankful we live here...and we do pay taxes for ALL Canadians.

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