I like my politicians the way I like my phones: smart.
Switched on and tuned in to what’s going on in the world. Listening all the time. (Can’t say I love that about the phones, though.)
The people we elect should know a lot about a lot, and be able to express it with eloquence. Or, at the very least, accuracy.
They should be educated (autodidacts count) and remain lifelong learners. They should know history. I like a politician who reads widely. Who reads, period.
A good politician should be able to communicate articulately and authentically – and not just speak in stilted talking points someone has fed them. Or worse, in crazed hyperbole.
Entertaining is great, but give me boring over whatever it is Donald Trump does. That kind of “entertainment” is dangerous.
His recent CNN Town Hall brought up memories my brain has suppressed for mental-health reasons: the 2016 U.S. election, Mr. Trump’s victory, his deranged leadership. Watching that TV event, the narcissistic un-self-aware display of hubris from a man who the previous day had been found liable of defaming and sexually abusing a woman was almost too much to compute. How does a voter watch someone behave that way, then mark their ballot for him?
Similarly, it is difficult to understand the appeal of Mr. Trump’s sycophantic disciple Marjorie Taylor Greene. Last week, Ms. Greene was temporarily presiding over the U.S. House of Representatives (that image alone boggles the mind). At one point, she called for decorum, causing House Democrats – and much of the democratic world – to LOL. This is the woman who heckled U.S. President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address, yelling “Liar!” I know teenagers who behave better than this woman. And could probably beat her in an academic evaluation. Her malapropisms (“peach tree dish”) are outdone only by the bizarre conspiracy theories she spouts.
Here in Canada, Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who wants to put housing on environmentally protected land, tells us “folks” that the Greenbelt is a “scam,” and also that his government has done more for the environment than any other in Ontario. He is not even clever about these contradictions, or the deceit. Machiavelli would not be impressed.
And I won’t even go into the qualifications of his late brother Rob Ford, the former mayor of Toronto.
Last week, at a meeting of the Brandon School Division in Manitoba, a trustee struggled to express herself as she spoke in favour of a controversial proposal: forming a committee involving citizens to review books in an effort to clear schools of material she said would “sexualize kids.” Breeanna Sieklicki compared restricting books with sexual content in schools to imposing age limits for drinking and smoking. “How does reading about a sexual act or viewing a sexual act in our school libraries make anyone feel safer?” she said.
In a democracy, everyone gets an equal vote.
Even people who hold deplorable views – racist, sexist, homophobic. People who believe librarians are pedophiles and groomers. People who find Mr. Trump’s ridicule of a woman he was found liable of sexually abusing funny.
People who believe teachers are putting litter boxes in classrooms to accommodate students who identify as cats. Or who compare transgender children in schools to feces in chocolate-chip cookies.
Someone like that might even run for election. Indeed, the litterbox/poop-batter person (who has since apologized) is a UCP candidate, Jennifer Johnson. And so, as you see, we have come to Alberta.
The provincial election pits former premier Rachel Notley against current Premier Danielle Smith, a leader whose gaffes seem endless and her abilities limited. Someone who compared people who received the COVID-19 vaccine to followers of Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany. Who said non-vaccinated Albertans were the most discriminated-against group she has witnessed in her lifetime. She has apologized, clarified. Ad nauseam.
More recently, Ms. Smith was found by the province’s ethics commissioner to have contravened the Conflicts of Interest Act in a case involving street preacher Artur Pawlowski. Mr. Pawlowski, now strongly anti-UCP (and NDP) held a media availability last week which can only be described as unhinged, during which he made grave accusations against the UCP government (“monsters”) and Ms. Smith herself. This is a person for whom Ms. Smith put herself on the ethical line trying to help. Smart move?
When you cast your ballot, in any election, ask yourself who you want to make decisions about the place you live. About health care. Education. Who is best qualified to represent not just your personal interests, but the interests of the greater good? Who has the knowledge, the intelligence, the moral compass?
Electing someone out of their depth can land us all in the depths of … who knows?
Please vote wisely.