The
New York Times’ columnist Paul Krugman wrote recently that the Republican party,
now governing the U.S., is not ready to govern.
I
would add this: There are few, if any, political parties anywhere - Canada
included - ready or fit to govern. Good governance is a scarcity in a consumer society
that has lost its feel for the concept of common good.
Ours
is a society of individuals that believes we all should be free to chase our
individual desires and self interests without giving up much for the overall
common good.
Our
governments have become tightly focussed on the individual. It is important for
them to protect our individual benefits. Not doing so would cost them support
because fewer people are willing to accept sacrifices required for the common
good.
As
more individual voices – the voices of minorities once seldom heard - have
gained prominence, it has become difficult for political parties to serve the
common good, or even to determine what it is.
Working
for the common good has mutated into the belief that you do whatever is needed
for the political party to gain and retain power, thereby ensuring it can do
good things. However, too often what the party needs to have and to hold power
is not always what is best for the common good.
More
simply put: Too often politicians push aside what they truly believe is right, and
stand up for what is perceived best for the political party.
There
was an example of this late last fall when Cuban leader Fidel Castro died. Prime
Minister Justin Trudeau, who called Castro a “remarkable leader”, caved in to
critics and decided not to attend the funeral.
Castro
was a friend of the Trudeau family and an honorary pallbearer at Pierre
Trudeau’s funeral. The elder Trudeau did not accept Castro’s Communist
dictatorship methods but understood why the Cuban revolution occurred. He
encouraged a special Canada-Cuba relationship based on helping the Cuban
people.
Justin
Trudeau decided not to attend the funeral because the Liberal party feared it
would cost them votes. And, likely anger incoming U.S. President Donald
‘Forrest’ Trump who planned a harder line against the island nation.
It
was another case of abandoning what you think is right in favour of what’s good
for the party. Pierre Trudeau would have given the party operatives the finger
and gone to the funeral.
Not
standing firm for what you believe, not accepting sacrifice for the common good,
has created a leadership crisis. Our leadership class is collapsing as people
have lost trust in government, the news media, many of our institutions and
systems.
We
don’t have the strong leaders needed to guide us through some of the most
serious problems faced by humankind. How to balance and protect our world in an
era of rapidly changing climates? How to pay for and maintain our tremendous
gains in health care? How to stop social disintegration caused by an
ever-decreasing job market, especially for those without post-secondary
education?
We
have created a society that encourages
freedom of the individual more than the citizen working for the common good.
Most of us agree that we must dramatically reduce pollution, change energy
consumption, provide excellent health care while reigning in costs. Yet too few
of us are willing to change our personal habits.
Our
governments could move us to change our personal habits but won’t for fear of
lost support. In the meantime, they continue to try to satisfy everyone.
They
overcommit themselves despite knowing that all expectations can’t be satisfied.
They continue to make promises they cannot meet, while racking up more and more
deficits.
The
American writer Robert J. Samuelson wrote in a 1992 Newsweek article that
America cannot work unless citizens take more responsibility for their actions.
“We face a choice
between a society where people accept modest sacrifices for a common goal or a
more contentious society where groups selfishly protect their own benefits.”
That certainly
applies to Ontario, and the rest of Canada. We need to change our thinking and
the thinking of our politicians. If we can’t do the latter, we need a wholesale
change of politicians of all parties.
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