"Who will buy" is not a criticism of politics . It's just a statement of reality.
Votes must be solicited. An exchange must happen between voters and candidates.
People enjoy campaigns. Excitement is abroad.
Even in the days when Kings and Emperors held the power. there had to be an effort to please.
It was easier to claim coronation by divine intervention.
But punishment for failure to please was severe. Frequently terminal....Like having one's head chopped off.
It seems the secret of longevity in politics is compulsive,obsessive.selflessness.
You have to care more about doing what you think is right than about staying in office. You have to be willing to risk. If you survive long enough, you learn how.
People have intuition about politicians. A successful politicians learns to trust the peo
The one time I was defeated from office ,was when I was Mayor.
We had accomplished substantial objectives during the four years. The project that brought about the defeat was widening of Wellington Street east.
The decision to proceed was hard fought by street residents. When they didn't win, they formed an organisation with the single objective of revenge and throw the bastards out.
And they did. All except the three who caved under the pressure. Two of them did not complete the next term.
Dick Illingworth and I had a conversation after the election.
. I said "Well. I did what I thought was right "
Dick said. "You might be right Evelyn but there's not much point if you're not there to do anything else."
He was right I was right. The two positions were contradictory.
At the core of it, that's what makes politics tricky.
It always comes down to judgement.
Different judgements can be simultaneously right. .
Darcy McKeough was Minister of Municipal Affairs when regions were being created in
Ontario.
In those days , there was respect and recognition for the responsibility of local government.
Ministers came into communities to talk to people and solicit support and promote understanding for government plans. It was a time of change, first since Confederaton.
Educational conferences were organized by the Province at their expense to give elected officials and staff a full briefing on new legislation that affected us and provide opportunityfor input.
Nowadays that task is contracted out and fees are charged for registration. The Honorable David Peterson started that. The only people he trusted were his relatives.
In the days of great change, Ministers had a handle on their responsibilities . They came out from Queen's Park with a team of professionals intent on finding out everything they needed to know before finalising legislation.There were meetings in high school auditoriums for all residents to participate and provide feedback.
Once I asked The Honorable Darcy how he could be sure the decision to create Regional government was right. There were so many unknowables.
His answer. "You can't know for sure. You make the decision , then you work hard to make sure it's the right one"
It was a good answer.
The problem was . .. the Honorable Minister didn't stick around long enough to make sure it was the right decision.
He left politics. He was missed.
We all know how little we know or influence what happens at the Region.
Saturday, 3 May 2014
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9 comments:
Evelyn:
In today's world with instant media of all sorts the Prime Minister can call the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court a liar and get away with it.
The previous premier of Ontario pissed away almost $1 billion and really has paid no personal price.
The previous mayor of Aurora was a vile, vindictive creature and while she paid a price in the end she managed to lie her way through four years, creating more grey hairs than one would think possible.
Today's politicians have to be skilled liars, nothing more, nothing less. They have no principles nor cohesive policies. They constantly react to the last thing they heard.
Politics - no thanks.
Thank you, Evelyn. I like hearing those stories. We have come to regard politicians in black or white. You add the touches of grey.
Was Mr Illingworth one of the guys who used to deliberately set a rumour loose in town and then bet on when it would appear and in what form it would be ?
Every candidate and politician should be reading at the start of everyday the quote you have at the top of your blog. It works for businesses as well. I sleep well every night.
There are those rare times when politics and politicians somehow combine to create a noble deed. Here follows one such combination. It is a great tragedy that they don 't happen more often.
For a period of thirty years, as a Texan and a southerner he had fought against civil rights legislation.
"As the long line of limousines began to pull away from the White House in the darkness, the protesters were there, outside the gates, as they had been for weeks. They were singing 'We Shall Overcome.' "
"Inside the fourth in the line of long vehicles that headed for the South gates
Lyndon Johnson sat in the back seat. He had entered the limousine without a word of greeting, and had immediately opened the notebook for a last-minute study of the speech. He didn't look up from the notebook as the limousine passed the White House gates - with the pickets singing We Shall Overcome" as if to tell him to his face. But one of the assistants riding with him had worked for him for almost twenty years, and saw his expression, and knew what it meant. "He heard."
With almost the first words of his speech, the audience - those elected as Congressmen and Senators, the Cabinet, the black-robed Justices of the Supreme Court, Ambassadors from other nations, the packed galleries rimming him above - knew that Lyndon Johnson intend to take the cause of civil rights further than it had ever gone before.
"At times history and fate meet at a single time in a single place to shape a turning point in man's unending search for freedom. So it was last week in Selma, Alabama.
This time, on this issue, there must be no delay, no hesitation and no compromise. Even if we pass this bill the battle will not over. What happened in Selma is part of a far larger movement which reaches into every section and state of America. It is the effort of American Negroes to secure for themselves the full blessings of American life.
Their cause must be our cause, too. Because it is not just Negroes, but really it is all of us, who must overcome the crippling legacy of bigotry and injustice."
Briefly, he paused again. He always had so much trouble in his speeches with the emphasis on the words, But he got it right this time. The next four words fell like sledgehammers."And we shall overcome."
There was a brief moment of silence, and then the applause rolled across the chamber.
There were testimonies to the power of that speech even more eloquent than that applause. In Selma, Alabama, where Martin Luther King and several of his aides were watching the speech on television those with him had never seen him cry. When Johnson said "We shall overcome" they looked at his face and he began to cry.
Another testimony took place on the motorcade's return to the White House. As the limousines slowed to turn into the White House gates, the turn was made in silence.
The pickets were gone."
From Robert A. Caro The Years of Lyndon Johnson
We only know that the Region costs money. We have no idea how widely they cast their nets & how many towns follow blindly along.
We know that the Region has a $2.4+ Billion debt.
We know at least one new candidate for Council who is running on getting a second rep at the Region despite the fact that this will accomplish nothing.
Maybe we dissolve towns and only have the Region?
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