Experience Versus The Lack Thereoff

Elizabeth Bishenden has left a new comment on your post "A Productive Day":

"Figure our rules on the run..." is not the same as "first to know his mind and declare his position".

Would anyone prefer a councillor sit back and not ask questions or give opinions while he quietly figures out the rules? He's an elected coucillor. Let him do what he was elected to do... ask questions and opine and vote.

He doesn't have to be a guru of municipal history. He doesn't have to agree with any particular point of view. He does have to be sure that he he knows what is going on now and that he votes for something he can explain to the electorate.

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You are absolutely right Elizabeth. The Councillor  is young. energetic and eager to participate.He will learn the history as he goes and acquire a sense of how a municipality operates and a council functions.   If he enjoys the experience, by the time the next election comes along , he will  have something of substance to offer  for a second term in office.

He will have made the most of his opportunity to learn and make a contribution.

Voters in the main,don't ask for more than that. They take a chance on an inexperienced candidate.They watch  the subsequent performance with interest and if their hunch was right, they take personal satisfaction from having made the right choice.

If the opposite is true they do  not have the same satisfaction and may be unlikely to make the same mistake twice. Intuition plays a large part in voter selection of candidates.

The safe thing  to do with a vote is park it with an incumbent.  Inexperience is not generally considered an asset. And not just in politics.

That's why an  intelligent person  functioning in the public arena of politics,without experience,  is wise to appreciate  the  gift  of trust.

It can't be taken  for  granted. Voters have made an investment. A gamble if you like.

They give. They can take away.

Four years is a good long time to grow in the job , demonstrate judgment, dependability and integrity.

It is an investment  by the candidate but even more so by the community.

An imbalance between   experience  and inexperience is not an asset.

An inexperienced candidate can be easily seized  by the proboscus and led in the wrong direction.It's an invitation waiting to happen.