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Saturday 12 May 2012

Tough One Fridays: Honesty and Policy


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TOUGH ONE FRIDAYS


I think I am going to call Friday posts “Tough One Fridays”. Let’s bring up the controversial topics so we can use the weekend to think and discuss ideas. Here goes.

DEFINING CANADIANS: HONESTY AS POLICY


Canadians are honest and we naturally expect honesty from others. I have always been amazed at how many times I have seen people pick up a dropped cell phone, money, or wallet and return it to the owner—or at least work like heck to find out who the owner is. I think that’s the problem with today’s election system: we elect someone to office and we honestly believe that they will follow through with the promises they make to get elected. Then they say, “I am your voice for the next three to five years, and what the party says is law.”

For my entire life my word has meant everything. My wife, children, brother, and sisters act the same way. It has not always been easy but I sleep well at night.  Yet today’s politicians make an art out of obfuscation. They say following the party line is the only way to assure inclusion in the power loop. Well, I did not give them my vote for the power loop; I gave them my vote to be honest and to represent the wishes of their constituents.

POLICY VS POLITICS


I believe that this is the reason people stopped voting. Why would you be interested in people who lie to get in, do things that make no financial or moral sense, and ignore their constituents? And if I hear one more time that I can vote them out in four years again, I’ll scream. A ton of damage can be done in four years. Just look at Ontario’s finances!

So here is my premise. Canadians are honest and want honesty to represent them. The lack of such leaders has made people believe that there is no difference between voting and not voting. Canadians crave that honest hero that will buck the party line and do the right thing no matter what the cost.

What’s your opinion? Comment below or email!

2 comments:

  1. Larry MacDonald13 May 2012 at 16:39

    Hi Bill
    Great that you are blogging! You touch on a big problem with our form of government, which is a leftover from the 19th century. We have the technology to allow direct voting on issues, why don't we use it more often?

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    Replies
    1. Excellent question! Even when we have a referendum they usually are not binding. They either think that they know better than the drooling masses or they are in love with the power.Canadians just want to be honestly heard and when the promises of politicians can be ignored or broken, its no wonder we don't trust the system any more.A classic example is Ottawa's electrical costs. We can buy electricity from Quebec for a fraction of the cost we buy it from Ontario yet not a single politician has stood up and given us a good reason why we don't use it. Of course the answer is political and we pay the price for this dishonesty.

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