Shades of Gray in Beer and Politics

The world we live in is messy. It's complicated and every day we are faced with decisions on where our money will be spent for necessities, essential things like food and shelter and a myriad of other products we need to exist day to day. Then comes the discretionary money, probably not as much of what we take home as we would like to be able to spend on the frivolities, hobbies and joys we try to give ourselves to brighten our days and nights. For some of us that little slice of life includes craft beer and while we sometimes spend a too much, it brings us happiness to share our beer with friends and online to the wider community. Where you buy your beer from, however, has a lot of factors and sadly in this province, supporting the current government is indeed a hot button issue we must examine further.
  There have been outright displays and inducements from certain craft breweries who participated in the low hanging fruit that is buck-a-beer, even to the point of hosting the premier and his cronies for ill thought out ad campaign style promo spots, ignoring the wider discussion about the cuts to so many social, educational, and environmental programs in the face of making it all about business as usual with the government of the day. I've written about my own feelings regarding anyone who participates in or consumes the buck-a-beer nonsense and while that is an easy target to avoid if you are the least bit aware, the nexus of what is happening now is a little deeper and shows more shades of gray than I would like to admit.
  Businesses contributing to political parties was a way of life in Ontario prior to a change in legislation, some hedging bets by spreading money around, others targeting the likely winners to curry favourable legislation and goodies at the trough. Craft breweries are no different, although for the most part most are too small to engage in the kind of donations that make much of a dent in a politicians gaze towards power and privilege. But some have made donations in the past and perhaps their individual owners have or will in the future, the question we must ask ourselves as consumers is what is the limit and depth of our willingness to continue to patronize a place that supports an ideology that we ourselves find repugnant. How deep will we dive to discover the political and social mores of the businesses we go to and when do we stop spending our dollars?
  These questions are very much at the forefront in recent conversations on Twitter and while some of the accusations and terms thrown around do inflame the conversation rather than encourage it, the intent is to keep a light on behaviour that people find contrary to their core beliefs. So it is with great trepidation that I even move into this discussion, always wary of having to fend off trolls or even worse, being unable to articulate how I feel and missing my point being heard clear and concise. So I asked myself some questions that maybe you should too...

1. Does a past contribution to a political party indicate an endorsement of said parties future actions? Well, that is pretty much what has people discussing this now. Prior to 2017, some of the larger Ontario Craft brewers did donate to political parties, including Doug Ford's PC party during the lead up to his election and while they may not have known just how disruptive and divisive this government would have been, the donations leave a bad taste in the mouths of many of us who drink their beer on a regular basis.
2. Do we hope they thought of the donations more as a cost of doing business, taking the political temperature at the time and seeing that the PCs were all but inevitable as winners of a majority Government? A little more likely than the first question. Most educated guesses hoped that the cooler and more experienced members of the incoming caucus would reign in Ford's wilder and more outlandish behaviours and actions but did not take into account their inability to separate people from party and fell into lock step with every utterance of the premier.
3. Do they continue to contribute, albeit as individuals, now that we know the full and harmful extent of what Ford's government has inflicted on the poor, sick, mentally ill, LGBTQ2, minority and so many more marginalized groups in this province?  This is where the rubber meets the road for most of us, the shades of gray will become black and white in a heart beat as the next election cycle begins to heat up in the coming year or so. The alignment of political opinion and currying favour with the Ford style of governance by division with the inclusivity and community feel of most craft breweries will not reconcile and for most of us who are informed or try to stay that way, a continued support of any kind for Ford or his cronies would be the final straw. It isn't easy to say, but the gauntlet has been thrown down by the no longer progressive conservative folks who take pleasure in inflicting pain on those less fortunate and unable to defend themselves or fight back.
4. Do we walk away from a brewery if they continue to support the PC government and by attachment, Ford and his politics of angry white guys?  Some already have, taking into account past actions and when saying no more of their discretionary spending will go anywhere near the stink associated with the current government. A staunch and principled stand that I understand and can feel sympathy for. Personally, I'd like to think that past actions and current ideals will see the light and that these brewery owners will understand that not only is giving money to such a divisive and polarizing individual and party bad optics, it will hurt their business going forward from this point. Isn't that giving them a pass from their past support? Maybe, but I think the truth is they had no idea where this government was going to go and despite the loosening of regulations concerning where they can sell their beer, this alone is not a hill you want to die on. Treading carefully, anyone is free to support whatever political party they want, free speech and all that jazz, but that doesn't mean you are free from the consequences of your words and actions...

  I don't know what will happen in the future, I wouldn't have believed any of what has happened since 2016 if you had told me about it back then. The sheer divisiveness of politics now and the anger and fear of "the other" being stoked by those claiming to be conservative is most assuredly not the party or politics I grew up with and followed for years. It is the ultimate first world problem to be worried about the politics of your favourite brewery, but in a world where every dollar counts, it does to those of us who wish to see the world a better place for everyone. Our money is a reflection of our beliefs to a certain extent, although most of us still shop at Walmart, Loblaws and other huge corporations with spotty track records in how they treat their employees, the environment and even their loyal customers. Context is everything I suppose.
  It is a distinct piece of privilege that we have the time and freedom to investigate and make informed decisions about our beer purchases, try to understand that not everyone has that available to them. We must decide where our money goes and if a business decides their need to support a political party outweighs public opinion, hopefully we can use that decision to show how we feel going forward.
Just my 2 cents, I'm learning as I go. This isn't the place I ever thought I would end up when I started taking pictures of my beer on Instagram 4 years ago. Subtle nuances are becoming much clearer and I am growing into a life lived with more awareness and love.
Cheers!
Polk

For more info on who donates to what political party, check out this link and have at it...but know that you might not like what you find.
https://special.nationalpost.com/follow-the-money/database

Why Do We Have So Much Stuff?

I'm running out of room. Something has to go.

When putting away the Christmas decorations yesterday, I was struck by just how much stuff we have acquired in the almost 10 years we've been in our current home. It feels like it fills every spare corner of the house and garage. Not in a hoarder like fashion, but with a chaotic organization that we alone can understand. It isn't messy or dirty, it just sort of sits there.

I do downsize from time to time. Using the internet to sell some of the better items we no longer need and failing that we donate it to local charities. I go to the dump with the stuff that is broken or just plain worn out. But it seems we still have so much.

Some things survive the purges because of sentimental value or the fear that maybe I'll need that later. I know we all probably have those items that we just can't part with because it may prove useful in the future and we take it from place to place, never actually needing it. Our crawlspaces are full of things we cannot let go of and don't know why.

I have an old bottle of Orange Crush I found when I was a kid and I've taken it with me as I've moved all my life. It has been wrapped and packed 11 times in the last 24 years and serves very little purpose except I liked the design when I was a young boy and can't toss it out. It sits in a box somewhere. That's just silly.

There are things in totes that haven't seen the light of day in more than a decade and yet are important enough to survive the big spring and fall cleanings we do every year. Lugging them from their spots under the stairs or on shelves in the garage, checking the contents and then putting them back is a semi-annual ritual we keep alive. That seems ludicrous.

I don't want to imply that we should toss stuff with true sentimental value. If something is dear to your heart because of a love one or a cherished memory, then by all means that is treasure to you and not junk. The stuff I am referring to is those items that exist in a halfway zone between useful and useless. Old kitchen gadgets, knick knacks that collect dust and only get moved to put out the holiday stuff or any myriad of "vintage" consumer electronics that seem to clutter our basements. These are the things that need to go. We can downsize without going to extremes. It is possible to find space for cherished objects while still getting rid of stuff that no longer fits who we are.

I cannot even begin to imagine what my friends and family with children must go through. Having witnessed the influx of new things at Christmas makes me wonder where it all goes, given how much they already seem to have. Most parents have a good grasp on what their kids play with and are very active in keeping the toy room at acceptable levels of stuff. Many make it a life lesson with the child helping to decide what they want to keep and then teaching them the value of donating it to those less fortunate. Good stuff to teach your kids, but I bet they hang on to some things just because.
Most of us live in a pretty affluent community. By this I mean we are not living in the slums of Calcutta or subsistence farming in Africa. We live in the west and even at my lowest point, I never worried that I would starve to death.  Don't get me wrong, I know people right here in Canada live in substandard conditions and have real worries about food, but I am lucky that those I love have places to live and enough to survive. Poverty is a real problem and I wish it could be different. Consider yourself lucky and blessed to live the life we do. We might not be in the 1%, but we are better off than most of the world. Struggling with bills, repairs and the unexpected costs of life are commonplace among us, but no one is homeless and we all know we can rely on each other for support if things go bad. So when I talk about stuff and its accumulation, I understand it is by definition a First World problem.
So let's make 2016 the year we try to get a grip on our homes. Look around and be critical.
Do you really need it?
Does it serve a purpose?
Why do you want it?
What does it make you feel?
I want to be relentless in my pursuit of making my life simpler. I don't want to lug around bins of useless junk every time I clean the garage and neither do you. Part of reclaiming my life is making space for new memories and things. As I begin to venture forth from Polkaroo Manor, I will undoubtedly purchase brewery related souvenirs. Branded glassware is my most likely target and if I want to display them, I need room. I hope I won't buy anything to put in a box and stick under the basement stairs. that would defeat my whole purpose. So I will make a real effort to get rid of stuff that I have outgrown or that simply just needs to go.
My shelves are filled with "collectible" beer bottles, that has to stop. I only have so much room and cannot keep every new beer I try. This will prove difficult because I want to keep any unique design or label I find. Perhaps I can find a middle ground. I have pictures of each brew and it might be time to print them out, get some frames and display them on the wall at Merle's (more on my home "bar" another time). I'll keep the ones that are really awesome and if I find one that I want to add, a different one will have to go.
 The basement and crawlspace will be next on my list and I promise to be ruthless in downsizing. If it is covered in dust and hasn't seen the light of day in the last year, maybe it is time to go.
 The garage is organized for the winter and I have no desire to spend days in there purging things while the mercury cruises to minus temperatures. But when spring rolls around, I will load up the Jeep with the stuff that does nothing for us anymore and off to the dump I will go.  I have big plans for a home brewing station and workshop in there, so useless junk that is in the way will have to go if I want to have enough space.
Lofty goals inspire me to accomplish things. I have set the bar so low for so many years that the slowly building momentum of reclaiming my life seems to be moving at a more rapid pace than it really is. I try not to revert to a shell of anxiety and fear as I downsize and get rid of stuff. I can see the light of day approaching and I want our home to be a reflection of who we are and a place where all are welcome.
Now if I can just find the Crush bottle.
Cheers!