Okay, I’ll admit it, while I’m not a member of any political party, I am rabid about the importance of some basic concepts being front and centre in politics. Primary among them are a candid approach that comes with maintenance of personal integrity, cojoined with the humility that comes with recognition of the wisdom inherent in the general population.
In a vain search for those qualities I’ve voted both sides of the ticket over the years. Time and time again, I’ve seen that power not only corrupts, but, when dogma supersedes rational thought, it actually fosters the sort of serial stupidity that, for instance, over the last twelve years brought a multi-billion-dollar organization with a virtual monopoly on one of the most lucrative markets in the insurance industry, automobile coverage, to its financial knees. Todd and Dave, Dumb and Dumber.
On a wider, more hopeful plane, it’s worth remembering that three years ago the electorate imposed consensual governance. Three independent minded MLA’s popped up in a House where the traditional centres of power were for once not afforded the unfettered control that comes with majority governance. And with a few notable exceptions, it worked. Not because the usual suspects had a sudden revelation, but because there was an additional force moderating the worst tendencies of what would otherwise be the same old revolving door of power-drunk cronyism.
Our option this time is not to choose between governing parties; it is instead to choose between governing approaches. Let’s not go back to another dysfunctional autocracy; but instead to maintain the current, consensual governing approach that has worked so well over the last three years. Real, constructive change in our society is possible this time, not by electing 44 NDP or Liberal MLAs, but by electing just 3 Green ones. Vote Green, it’s already made a difference.