COMMENT: Who are these people, anyway?

She told Mansbridge that, despite her troubles she wasn't ready to give up on her 'career' in politics. Think about that. Any public servant...serves...based on the decision of the electorate. Now think about the word 'career'. A career is something stable, that lasts a working lifetime. It's one's job. Is that really what happens when we elect people to public office? I don't think it should be.

But clearly that's the attitude that people like Guergis have: they view running this country as their job, as though they worked in the Motor Vehicle Branch or the post office. 'Career' politicians will carp on, as Guergis did, about their devotion to 'public service', but that's largely BS. Here's the crux of the matter: they think the country is theirs to run. This attitude, as recently noted in these pages, is borne out in the federal Conservatives' 'branding' of government cheques in party blue. Term limits, anyone?

Another thing jumped out at me while watching Guergis: where do these people come from? While there are certainly some excellent MPs and MLAs in Canada, there are also a lot who resemble used car or life insurance salesmen more than credible representatives of the public interest. I look at this crowd of obvious phonies--blatantly obvious phonies--and ask myself, 'is this really the best we can do?' 

Apparently so. Well, then, onto our next question. How do these people get elected?

First, they decide to run. Anyone can do that, but in an era where politics are increasingly seen as corrupt and hopeless by decent people, more and more those who run for office are power-and-wealth-obsessed bottom feeders. 

Next, they get nominated in their local ridings. This is often surprisingly easy. The lack of general participation in politics today means that an enterprising sociopath can, with relative ease, dominate the nomination process. Anyone desperate enough for power to show up again and again, to knock on doors and schmooze endlessly, has a pretty good chance of getting the official nod from their party.

Finally, they get elected. This is also surprisingly easy. After all, when election time rolls around, there are only two or three candidates in any given riding who, based on party affiliation, have a chance of getting elected. So the odds are about even, even for the most debased opportunist imaginable.

Consequently, our politics are a mess. New polls show the Conservatives moving up federally, even though most Canadians aren't that fond of Stephen Harper and his party. Apparently, it's just that they're even less fond of the alternatives.

What to do? Good question. Probably, the best solution would be to have the public start nominating potential candidates through online campaigns. People who are legitimately leaders (and servants) in their communities should be approached and harangued into running for office. How many times have each of us thought to ourselves, 'my mom/that nice old lady who volunteers down at the library/my mechanic could do a better job of running the country than people like Harper and Ignatieff?'

Clearly, something needs to be done to get real people, actual human beings, into politics. 

 

The catch: anyone worthy of the job is likely to run screaming when asked.