Liberalism - The Citizen Departure

Two weeks prior to his death, Albert Einstein told a friend it was his liberal spirit that prepared the path for him to achieve something of greatness.  He then went on to say that when he was provided the option of going into mathematics or physics, he chose the latter because he “didn’t want to wander after the trivialities of life but to get to its essence, understand it, and make it better for all people.”This is the traditional gift of liberalism – to engage and make life better, both individually and collectively. We have discussed in these posts before the danger of politics becoming so elitist that it loses touch with those it’s supposed to represent.  And yet the opposite is also true – citizens can walk away.  If liberalism is to have any effect, it must find a way to bring these back together.But it can’t be easy.  We cherish this country as a nation of open-mindedness.  We talk of our tolerance, our acceptance of others, our acknowledgement that the world finds us a pretty pleasant people.  That’s great, except that those things aren’t the foundations of democracy but rather the offshoot of it.  Tolerance can become indifference, a kind of suspension of ethical judgment.  Granted, we grow angry at politics, but rarely do we express frustration with one another for our lack of civil debate or community dialogue.  The lack of such things leads to a kind of isolation, a solitude.  But unless we are prepared to make demands of one another, we consign ourselves to a kind of banal nationhood that fails to rise to the challenges before it.Consider climate change.  If the polls are right, most Canadians comprehend that tough days are coming, yet only a small minority pull themselves together to grip this country by the collar and rouse it out of its slumber.  Such committed Canadians are replicated in related fields like anti-poverty, job security, pension equity, democratic renewal, foreign aid or tax fairness.  They are the heart and soul of this country and yet are often branded as “special interest” groups or “zealots” by those who would rather just maintain the status quo.  For that reason, like political parties themselves, they have great difficulty selling their vision to enough people to bring about the change they seek and that this country requires.America and Britain have faced their moment of change and have risen to the challenge.  Canadians sense stormy weather ahead but have yet to make their mark.  Part of that will involve voting, but the greater aspect will be about challenging one another to step up.  Tolerance is a fine thing, but democracy requires a more invigorating ethic than that.  The public space today is more threatened by indifference than it is by division or intolerance.As citizens we are determined to respect everyone, yet respect for citizens has to be earned.  To say we are a “tolerant” nation is but to give a tourist’s approach to Canada; we have to do better, as do our politicians.  In our early days as a nation, we respected those who sacrificed for the neighbours, who led with moral integrity, who put their natural gifts and money at the disposal of the community or the country.  And to be that kind of citizen was a great goal, one respected by every community across this land.In the 1870s Walt Whitman wrote: “Never was there, perhaps, more hollowness at heart than at present.  Genuine belief seems to have left us.”  Is that true of Canada today?  The answer is mixed.  Those radical movements that disturbed the peace of the past century have begun petering out – women’s equality, prosperity for all, a healthy planet, peacekeeping, accessible healthcare.  These and more fail to inspire us to the point of changing our direction, despite the fact a faithful nucleus of citizens have been attempting to engage us for over a decade on these very issues.We have arrived at a strange duality: neither our politicians nor our committed citizenry call sell their product.  Part of the problem might lie with the buyer.  Citizens are moving in a great departure from the kind of public life that takes remarkable amounts of self-sacrifice.  Next we’ll consider how the elites have embarked on a similar journey.  Liberalism’s problem in politics and in the public space is how to get everyone back under one tent.