The Failure of Political Leadership - Part 2

The other day I wrote a brief post called The Failure of Political Leadership, inspired by what is quickly becoming a national embarrassment for the City of Toronto in its choice of Rob Ford as mayor. Now quite openly betraying his promise not to gut services but only eliminate 'the gravy', he and his acolytes are considering all manner of service reductions which could affect, amongst others, library branches and hours, police services and transportation routes. That got me thinking about the current calibre of the people we elect, and without question, many of them are patently unfit to hold public office.

In theory, the people we elect are entrusted with representing our interests. Far too often, and I suppose I state the obvious here, they are instead pursuing their own lust for power and their own ideological agendas. Take, for example, those who are described as Ford allies on Toronto City Council. That they are allies of the mayor suggest that they support and take direction from him, either because they are ideologically aligned with his values or they enjoy or seek to enjoy the power conferred upon members of his executive committee, once more suggesting that the needs and interests of their constituents are, at best, a peripheral consideration.

And of course we see the same failure of politics playing out in the United States, where the ideological divide between the Republicans and the Democrats, and an extraordinarily partisan lust for power has brought that country to the brink of economic collapse, as epitomized in the current imbroglio over raising the debt ceiling. So ideologically opposed are the Republicans to even very modestly increasing taxes on the ultra wealthy that they are willing to sacrifice the struggling working and middle class, many of whom voted for them.

Is there a solution to this deficit of democracy afflicting the West? I don't know. But without question, some reforms are necessary before people completely lose faith and see democracy as simply a convenient label barely concealing some egregiously inconvenient truths.