A few years ago there was a debate on a tv station of a major North American city. Who were the greatest bad actors in the local street warfare between motorists, cyclists and pedestrians? The question was accompanied with video footage of cars flying by pedestrians, pedestrians jumping in front of cars, and cyclists doing what ever they wanted. Now, pick one, please.

I recognized immediately, that the question required me to assume premises that were faulty. The characteristics of the people involved in these various modes of transportation were not tied to the specific mode. If a guy was a rude jerk, he would be rude if he was walking, riding a bike, or driving. In fact, he may be all three in the course of a day. A more chivalrous individual would behave much civilly in any of these transports.

The adage of Lord Acton that “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely” should have also included a statement that “power attracts the corrupted”.   I will attempt to apply the concepts from my opening statement to the political realm. The two main political parties can drive their philosophical stakes into the ground. As one political camp gains the upper hand, over time it will attract the bad actors. You can recognize the bad actors through their inconsistencies, their nuances, but mostly by their distain for the very stake in the ground to which they claim to adhere.

Bad actors by nature, will milk the system to their advantage. They will skirt issues, break rules and twist the truth for their own benefit. Their self absorption which demands they hide their true heart also betrays their duplicity.

The founders recognized the small flaws that are within us all as well as the great flaws that lie within many. The constitution to build a more perfect society was founded in laws and not in men for this very reason. The constitution is the rules of the game of politics. With difficulty, it is amendable so as not to be changed frivolously.

Which political entity has the most bad actors today? It isn’t even close. There is one party that plays fast and loose with the constitution. Why bother going through the hassle of amending the constitution when you can appoint judges that will change it on the fly? Why accept the results on an election when you can demand select recounts from favourable districts to change the outcome? Why even rely on the vote if you can stuff the ballot box or ignore the very laws you have been sworn to uphold? Who stifles free speech on campuses and in the media? Who, in fact has yanked their philosophical stake entirely out of the ground and has concealed it behind their backs?

When you identify these individuals, I suspect they are also some of the rudest drivers, cyclists and pedestrians you have ever seen.

My offspring are cinemaphiles. They know the actors, the players and their filmographies. Their knowledge of the stuff of Hollywood is so extensive that they can do the six degrees of Kevin Bacon in two. When we watch a film together it is with different perspectives. I watch to laugh, to cry, to be surprised, to solve mysteries, to live and love in a temporary world of celluloid imagination. I even like message films when they are uplifting , bitter sweet and inspirational. I assume my children do the same but they also see blocking, marks, timing and nuances of style that are lost to my “biz-myopic” eye. Their appetite for any box office offering and subsequent deconstruction seems insatiable.  I have no such appetite.

Is being of this world for three decades more than my post-teen brood, cause me to be much more guarded as to what cinematic event I am willing to allot my dwindling hours. Or…. At my age have I seen it all and most films are reworks of previous plots, jokes, and drama? No, I know the actual answer. I am involved in a one man crusade. I am a boycotteur. The bottom line is that the “biz” is so saturated with banal liberal offal that I have very little fare to choose from. I will not support swill. I don’t have Joseph McCarthy to protect me anymore so I have to do it myself. 

My children view me (still lovingly) as a small, bitter man. I disagree with that assessment. In a democracy individuals have so little power to affect our society when we have just one vote. I do not disparage that one vote. Au contraire, I wish to augment it. Every minute I watch a film, every cent of my disposable income I spend on disposable time, is a vote.   Do you know how many votes that is?

We are in a cultural battle. Why enable the enemy? If buying oil enables Islamic terrorists, doesn’t it follow that buying Milk enables those who would tear down our western culture? My rational for boycotting isn’t restricted to the plot of the movie. How can I support a film whose protagonist (in his off duty time) is sidling up to Castro, preaching defeat in Iraq, and denigrating the office of the president with personal attacks?  How can I support a director or a producer that promotes liberal lies as truth through their work and their donations?

Reader, I urge you to become a boycotteur. Join the struggle. Discriminate in what you choose to watch, read or listen. Support the works that uphold the ideals of our western culture. It is time for us to change that supply and demand curve in our favor. Demand better and it will come. Reject rot and it will perish. One man’s crusade can become a movement where the end result could be truly classic works of cinematic genius.