Life in the Rear-view Mirror

Political Myopia

Overt political corruption is a vicious circle, attracting into politics those who feel comfortable within a corrupt environment. In turn, the more shady characters run for political office, the more corrupt political life becomes, which attracts even shadier characters, and so on. Without such an environment it would have been more difficult for the rich to gain such tight control of government. Is it something in the human gene that predisposes us to having corrupt societies like those of our Latin American brethren to the south?

Is corruption a natural outcome of the liberalization of social mores that took place in the last fifty years? When we relax the rules of conduct, the likelihood of stepping over the line increases. In society, we all want more individual choices and freedoms, but with them come a greater risk of infringement. The things that keep society functioning harmoniously are: integrity, honesty, and accountability. If we don't hold people accountable for their actions, then we deserve what we get.

Following the Second World War, democracy flourished as in no other time before it. After the war's devastation, there was a lot of reconstruction to be done, and a lot of optimism for the future. The attack on Pearl Harbour, in 1941, dragged the US into the global conflict, but it also dragged it out of the prolonged depression that followed the market meltdown of 1929. During the war, America became the most powerful nation in the world; and it led the way to a new world order, remoulding war-torn countries in its image. The war had taught everyone the importance of fighting for the common good, and for a few decades afterwards, governments seemed to behave that way.

It's hard to pinpoint exactly when things changed, but certainly, by the 1980s, politicians had become myopic. Governing for the common good, which meant looking at the long-term needs of the country, gave way to governing for the interests of the party in power. Political corruption and flagrant disregard for our democratic rights and institutions got progressively worse, reaching the point where nearly half of the voting-age population no longer exercises its legal right to vote.

A fundamental shift occurred in how countries are governed, which probably started at the same time, more or less, as the new world order that's been referred to as globalization. This much-ballyhooed achievement is a euphemism for oligarchy, or plutocracy: rule by the super rich by any other name. It's rule by those who control the large multinational corporations, which have larger revenues than most countries in the world. Because of that, they have the power to affect political decisions even in the most powerful country in the world.

The process has been slow, but deliberate. Nowadays, nobody can get elected without substantial financial contributions from the mega rich, which simply means that elected representatives are not responsible to those who elected them, but to those who financed their campaigns. Even the laws were changed recently, to effectively remove any size limits to contributions. This eliminated all the subterfuge that went on in the past, to camouflage illegal donations. So, now it is out in the open for all to see. Unfortunately, some still call this democracy!

At a time when our planet needs attention to long-term problems, governments have become myopic, with a time frame no longer than the next election. In the eighties and nineties, people rebelled against all types of projects with the slogan, 'not in my backyard'. Politicians responded with their own slogan, 'not in my term of office'. Consequently, nothing got done. Our political system is in a mess and in dire need of change. For those expecting the current system to revert to a functioning democracy, it's pure wishful thinking. It's not that we lack the solutions: there are many. We lack the willpower and determination to implement them, and special interest groups, who oppose any changes, dominate the political agenda.

The last time we had a government, in Canada, that we can point to with any amount of pride was in the 1970s. Its leader was Pierre Elliot Trudeau, a staunch nationalist and statesman with a long-term vision for the country. His vision resonated with Canadians and it became a reality. Abroad, he saw Canada as a neutral country with a peacekeeping role, and at home he saw a kind and gentle society, where individuals would be treated equal under the law, regardless of race, religion, gender, and sexual preference. His vision and hard work gave Canada a seat at the G7 table. That achievement alone put Canada on the world map. He gave Canadians the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, enshrined in the Constitution Act of 1982, guaranteeing the fundamental freedoms of: conscience, religion, thought, belief, opinion and expression, peaceful assembly, and association.

Trudeau had also given us a long-term National Energy Plan that called for the development of natural resources in partnership with the private sector. The plan was bitterly contested by Big-Oil and didn't go as far as he had wanted, but it was a lot better than what we have now. Brian Mulroney, who had absolutely no vision for Canada, replaced him. He was a wheeler-dealer, and, in the span of nine years, he sold the country down the drain. After getting elected, he put up a 'Canada For Sale' sign. Soon, many Canadian companies were sold to foreign interests, and their head offices were moved mostly south of the border.

If he had been an author of tragedies, he would have excelled. His next tragedy was the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the U.S., and when Mexico joined it became NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement). The FTA was very unpopular with Canadians, but he rammed it through Parliament, with the help of corporate America – the biggest beneficiary. In response, the Canadian dollar plummeted against the U.S. dollar, as had been predicted, of course.

His greatest achievement (tragedy) was the destruction of his own political party: the one founded more than a century earlier, by Sir John A. MacDonald, Canada's first Prime Minister. After nearly nine years of extremely corrupt government, his party was left with only two seats in Parliament. It never recovered. Many years later, what remained of the once powerful party was amalgamated with an extreme right-wing party from western Canada, known as the Reform Party. From there, politics went further downhill at an even more rapid pace. Political mores had changed so much under Mulroney that the slide continued under both the Liberal Party, and the reconstituted Conservative Party. Now we have not only a corrupt governing party, but also a dictatorial prime minister, making a mockery of Parliament and parliamentary procedures. That's the sad reality in Canada.

Someone once said that people get the government they deserve. Indeed, we have to share the blame for what happened because we didn't put up a worthy fight. Why didn't we?