Social media is a revolution in the way information is received. I think the power is not yet fully appreciated. I am still in awe and I don't even use a cell phone camera.
The written word is more powerful. There may be fewer readers but they circulate the message. The printed word has gravitas.
But the difference with social media is greater than that.
Maintaining public confidence in governing institutions has always been an imperative.
Lawyers do not publicly criticize other lawyers. The Association is more than the individual. Public confidence in the profession is essential for survival.
Doctors don't criticize doctors for the same reason. Within the profession, in relative secrecy, discipline is exercised. A doctor or lawyer occasionally loses the licence to practice. It's a reckless lawyer who disregards professional obligation.
A lawyer employed by a municipality is first and always, an officer of the court with professional obligation to uphold the law.
Police do not maintain law and order. No army even with navy auxiliary and whirly- bird air arm to keep tabs on stray bears, could ever be large enough.
Community respect for law and order is the root of peace and security.
Months of disorder in Ferguson, Missouri is an example of the tenuous hold and breakdown and difficulty of restoring public confidence in their institution of government.
The hurly-burly of politics may be less discreet than other institutions The free -for-all easily mistaken for lack of discipline. No guild protection exists at the municipal level.
But....It is an egregious error to deny the basic rule of common decency.
Political engagement is not normally a lifetime commitment. RIsk is involved and there's no financial security in Aurora at least ...except for the Mayor.
A term or two in office may be little more than a means to another end for most.
A reputation for skill and integrity takes years to acquire. It's lonely and hard-earned. The road less travelled . The price is high but value is commensurate and not willingly surrendered.
Six years have passed since I had to decide to defend my reputation.
The fight has been costly, financially and otherwise.
Debt has been incurred and the incredible twists and turns were not anticipated. Not least has been the time taken.
Throughout, the support of my family, friends and people I don't know, has sustained me.
I am as sure to-day as I ever was the decision was the right one.
We will see it through.
The story will be told with all its secret angles and hideaways illuminated.
I certainly hope you are correct. The problem is when.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete22:46 - Patience they say is a virtue. It's always been a challenge for me. But its has always been rewarding.
ReplyDeleteAnother week of suspense in a string of them...........
ReplyDeleteIn books there is always a statute of limitations that kicks in at just the right moment. But maybe that is just American ?
ReplyDeleteYou may not be on council Evelyn, but you still make a difference. More so than those many on that council.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteThere is an article iin today's New York Times headed "The Closing of the Canadian Mind."
It begins: "The prime minister of Canada, Stephen Harper, has called an election for Oct. 19, but he doesn't want anyone to talk about it.
Mr. Harper's campaign for re-election has so far been utterly consistent with the personality trait that has defined his tenure as prime minister: his peculiar hatred for sharing information.
Americans have traditionally looked to Canada as a liberal haven, with gun control, universal health care and good public education.
But the nine and half years of Mr. Harper's tenure have seen the slow-motion erosion of the reputation for open, responsible government. His stance has been a know-nothing conservatism, applied broadly and effectively. He has consistently limited the capacity of the public to understand what the government is doing, cloaking himself and his Conservative Party in an entitled secrecy, and the country in ignorance."
The article goes on for three more pages.
It really is long overdue that we rid ourselves of this specimen with his paranoia - a diseased control freak.
If one reads the entire article it is easy to picture oneself in Russia or China rather than in the "true north, strong and free."
ABH: Anyone But Harper
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteStephen Marche's piece is bang on the mark, thanks for sharing 9:29 and I agree.
Here's the link : http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/16/opinion/sunday/the-closing-of-the-canadian-mind.html?_r=0
Oh please. Everything comes out in the wash eventually. Good God. Look what happened with the ontario linerals in the last last election, and the billions that were lost and trying to hide? They got re-elected with a majority! We might be in the north and we've done fairly well considering the finacial mess the rest of the world is in, but nothing is free.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteThe last two paragraphs of the New York Times article:
"The early polls show Mr. Harper trailing, but he's beaten bad polls before. He has been prime minister for nearly a decade for a reason: He promised a steady and quiet life, undisturbed by painful facts. The Harper years have not been terrible; they've just been bland and purposeless. Mr. Harper represents the politics of wilful ignorance. It has its attractions.
Whether or not he loses, he will leave Canada more ignorant than he found it. The real question for the coming election is a simple but grand one: Do Canadians like their country like that?"
I don't.
And what did Dalton leave in Ontario? And Ontarians wanted more of the same, handing over the keys to the biggy bank to spend as they please for the next 4 yrs. Lets not talk about ignorance in this country when we as a province are leaders in that department.
Delete"But in the nine and half years..."
ReplyDeleteThe article should have compared the Harper years to the Chrétien years. Yes Harper is not media friendly. Chrétien the same can be said too and on his "secretive" watch Adscam and hrdc fiascos flew under the radar
The only difference between the two is the media hasn't changed it is still for the majority anti Conservative
Hence the uptick in anti Harper rhetoric
Bottom line he has done an adequate job
so be careful and weigh all the facts
There are skeletons in all the closets you just won't here about some
8:19
ReplyDeleteHarper has had enough time. As did others from both parties. Time to go.
Now, we get the tiresome tit-for-tat comebacks of partisan (federal/provincial) politics. There are plenty of online forums for that kind of 'stuff,' if you're so inclined.
ReplyDeleteCan we focus on the municipal politics of "Our Town" here on this blog? Ms Moderator, over to you...
ReplyDelete16:31
Occasionally we have to turn from the serious to the sublime.
Ah, 16:31, you always jump to change the subject if it gets a little too close.
ReplyDeleteThe moderator will do as she pleases when she pleases.
Too close to what, 17:29? Party politics? I've got no skin in that particular game...and even less interest.
ReplyDeleteI find it all so tiresome, and we've got another couple of months to endure.
23:18 - We all have "skin" in this game unless you don't pay taxes.
ReplyDeleteThose who do not participate in the electoral process have no excuse when they do not like the results.
ReplyDeleteThis election is going to be a hard one for me. I am a Conservative, and this is the first time that I haven't been happy with my elected MP. I believe that the Conservative gov't has done an adequate job considering the financial turmoil it had muddle through with rest of the world economy and security affairs, with no help from my MP I might add. Unfortunately declining my vote at the polls will only be categorized as a spoiled vote. The other candidates just make my head spin with the garbage that spewing out of their mouths. So it looks like that my participation in this election will not be recognized as an unhappy electorate, but just trash.
ReplyDeleteI have no skin in the game of tit-for-tat partisan politics back-and-forth sniping. The actual election itself is another matter.
ReplyDelete8:19
ReplyDeleteGreat platform on which to run:
" He has done an adequate job "
Wow ! Like, wow !
ReplyDelete8:19 (August 16) and 10:52 (August 17)
I don't consider "adequate" as an acceptable level of performance on the part of a nation's prime minister or the leader of a cub scout pack.
That's like saying your hernia is a minor inconvenience when you don't know if and when it will explode.
15:35 Dumb analogy
ReplyDelete