Liberalism - The Comfortable
We merely mock ourselves when thinking we are like our grandparents in their industriousness and commitment to the strengthening of Canada. This is a hard truth but becoming more readily apparent with each passing year.Liberalism was necessity born out of affliction and authoritarianism. While the noble ideals of democracy found their origins in ancient Athens, they were never powerful enough at that time to spread. It was with the rediscovery of the Athenian principles during the Enlightenment in Europe that a new hope entered the bloodstream of civilization.Except that it needed a vehicle – some workable arrangement and realignment of the political order to open and direct the channels of the human hankering for freedom. That vehicle was liberalism, with its emphasis on self-knowledge and the ability to elevate oneself once the opportunity arose.Liberalism works when the human condition is directly challenged by myopic ideology. Canada was fortunate in that it entered its most dynamic years of citizenship when much of liberalism’s struggle against authoritarianism had been overcome. There had been the small minority of wealthy who finally had their stranglehold broken – an iron grip not so much of economics but knowledge. Moving into the 20th century, this country was creating enormous wealth, but shaping it in ways that produced remarkable social advances. Within a decade after the Second World War, when our grandparents were in full swing, the wealthy elite had given way to the burgeoning middle-class, and Canadian citizenry proved itself remarkably adaptable at taking their French and English roots and constructing a cultural phenomenon. The country opened its doors to the world, with the resulting mix of numerous other cultures. The only thing we didn’t really understand, appreciate or build upon was the remarkably complex aboriginal way of life. And we still don’t get that.Recently, I asked some citizens to describe the middle-class and the list they compiled was extensive. There was also the tacit conclusion that today’s middle-class is like yesterday’s elite – the comfortable. Think of whom we’re talking about. There are the professionals: teachers, firefighters, police, professors, journalists, politicians, civil servants, lawyers, doctors, accountants, engineers, scientists and consultants. But there are more: wealthy farmers made comfortable by government price supports, the elderly left free to travel and invest following years of hard work and bankable pensions, corporate technocrats and investment analysts.Heck, that’s almost everybody we know. Canadian society has evolved to the place where a comfortable majority of its citizens have accrued far more than their grandparents ever did, but with only half the effort. While this critical mass belittles politics and politicians, their very own success reveals the prudent policies of successive governments and bureaucracies.What is it about successful modern societies that prompts them to belittle those that oversaw their good fortune? It’s not just politics that’s changed in this country, but the electorate itself. The prevailing view at present, promoted by much of the media, is that the electorate is its same old industrious self, trying to work out a living, while the politicians toy with their political future. To affirm such a thing would be to deceive ourselves.Canada is a remarkably affluent and successful country; but it is now a comfortable one as well. And people who are comfortable tend to cling to their way of life, as if it is rightfully theirs and which was gained by their own industriousness. Except it’s not, it never was. Canadians – our grandparents and parents – shared the wealth, invested in public education, healthcare, permitted tax increases and cuts when necessary, business opportunities, civic infrastructure, pensions and manufacturing. And they depended on governments at all levels to manage and extend the franchise. In earlier days it would have been difficult for a citizen to pay for all their children’s education, medicines, operations, etc., but government programs provided that opportunity.As citizens, we must come to terms with our changed status, become more self-aware of our blessings and just how many of them came our way through the wise design of the older generations, shrewd tax disbursements, and diligent governments.Modern liberalism will get nowhere if it merely caters to the whim of citizens. It must find a new voice to call them back to greater exploits required for the future of our children. For reasons I don’t fully comprehend myself, I’ve been wondering if we have entered into a post-democratic state – whatever that means. Our democracy isn’t working as effectively as it was because we’ve all been duped into believing we are the individual creators of our own success, when in fact the opposite is true. Our greatest achievements have come by way of mixing our own efforts with those of our counterparts to produce one of the world’s great societies. But we are now in danger of losing that ethic unless we speak truth to ourselves and challenge one another to think more realistically. This will be the ongoing subject of this week’s blog postings.