It’s
time that we all started thinking and doing politics differently here in
Ontario, and elsewhere.
The
way we do politics is old and rusty. Our political systems are snared in a
party system in which the parties and their goals are more important than the
people and the common good.
Three
major parties are contesting the June Ontario election, none of which is fully capable
of providing the leadership that people want and need. All three have had their
chance to lead in the last 30 years and all three have failed to provide the
new ideas and decisiveness critically needed in a wildly changing world.
Democracy
has been weakened in Ontario, but it is not the only place. Failing democracies
are seen throughout the world.
Democracies
flourish when people believe they can improve their lives. They start to fail
when people feel their lives are stagnating, and they see a not-so-bright future for their children.
A
recent Pew Research Centre study found that many people in advanced democracies
like Germany, Sweden, Spain, The Netherlands and Italy are worried about their
children’s economic future. In France, the study found, 70 per cent of people
said they doubt their children will be better off financially.
In
the U.S. some research says that in 1970, a full 90 per cent of 30 year olds
were better off than their parents at the same age. By 2010, only 50 per cent
of 30 year olds were better off than their parents at the same age.
There
is more evidence closer to home. In Ontario 42 per cent of young adults were
living with their parents in 2016, an increase of 20 per cent since 2001.
Concerns
about the future are one reason why cracks are showing in democracies,
even
in countries where democracies have thrived for many decades, or longer.
Freedom
House, a freedom and democracy watchdog, reports that in 2017 “political rights and civil liberties around the world
deteriorated to their lowest point in more than a decade.”
It adds: “Democracy is under assault
and in retreat around the globe, a crisis that has intensified as America's
democratic standards erode at an accelerating pace.”
Voters
continue to believe in democracy but more and more of them see it not meeting
their needs. They are upset by what they see as serious world change – growing
inequality, sputtering economies, climate change, an evaporating middle class
and unprecedented displacement and immigration that is swamping governments.
Many
voters around the world are turning to anti-establishment political movements
in hopes they can make things better. Populist nationalistic parties have made
impressive showings in a number of European countries, and of course the United
States.
So
far these movements have brought little that can change the world for the
better. They have brought, however, a retreat from common decency, political
buffoonery, alternate realities and fake news and a disturbing rise in racism.
The
alternatives to what we have now do not lie in these so-called populist
movements and their alternate realities. Nor do they lie in the political
systems and the political parties from which we have to choose.
The
alternatives surely are in the people we choose, not the parties. We need to
begin nominating and electing people who understand and believe in true bipartisanship
– the
working
together for the best solutions for all people.
We
need more youth, and more women in politics. More people who spurn tribal
thinking and work seriously to develop their own thinking. People who are
committed to bipartisan good governance without political party ties.
These
will be people who believe that growth should be about meeting and
sustaining needs, not growth simply to ratchet
up profits and build bigger stock market numbers. People who see that the goal
now must be to meet present basic needs without screwing up the ability of
future generations to meet theirs.
Attracting
and electing people to work independent of political parties may be a pipe
dream. But our dreams are the hope of the future.
We
need change in how we govern ourselves because the current political party
system is corroded and corrupt.
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