Grassroots Elitism

We decided to have a final get-together for all those who assisted during the last campaign, just as a way of saying thank you and for me to express my commitment to our local riding association. I was surprised by how many showed up. My wife Jane and I mingled among them, encouraging them to let this past election go and focus more on the future. There were no criticisms of the Liberal party, nor its past leader - just a desire to move forward.To be clear, a good number of these folks weren't dyed-in-the-wool Liberals, but people who simply feel that politics still has a place of importance in Canadian life. They had enlisted in my campaign out of a sense of civic duty and the ideal that politics in this country can still be played out in respect and cooperation. For these people especially there was a sense of being lost: where would they take that citizen spirit now?It was fascinating for me to watch the two groups - party Liberals and engaged citizens - mingle and converse. For the regular party members there would be scheduled riding association meetings, fundraisers, guest speakers, policy and political conventions, and all those other things that come with membership. But for others, what?I've been monitoring a lot of the traffic that's be flying around the digital domain concerning the revitalizing of the Liberal party and I've spotted a couple of dangers. The first is the sense of anger toward the party elites. That's been there from the beginning, but now taken full root as a result of the election defeat. Yet they are also angry at times with one another. There are the self-proclaimed experts who feel they know exactly what's wrong and who use the Liberal troubles as a platform solely for peddling their own hard-nosed opinions instead of seeking a consensus with others who are merely seeking renewal. In many senses, those with such strident opinions reflect the same attitudes as the very elites in the party that they decry. And ironically (I speak from experience) many of them didn't materialize during the last campaign, opting to stay outside the action because they were offended at the party or not recognized for their prowess. The party itself ran aground when certain people opted to force their own views on others without proper consultation or compromise; it would be a sad thing if it were now to emerge among the party membership itself. This is something to be avoided at all costs because it would just appear as leadership squabbles by another name and the public will turn away in droves because it's not happening behind closed doors but on Facebook, Twitter and the other very public digital venues.My second concern is more about democracy and not Liberalism. What of those who don't maintain a particular party bias but who wish to be engaged for the sake of their respective communities and country? What if all the Liberals in the "big red tent" decided to have a revival meeting while at the same time shutting all the flaps? This is the danger we are running at present. Liberalism must "hit the streets" if it is to be relevant again. This notion that we can somehow rebuild the party without citizens who aren't Liberals but who care about public service is a fallacy.On the night of our party, half of the group wondered about how we'll handle our next riding AGM, while the other half expressed a desire to maintain contact outside of such venues. Interesting conundrum. As I spoke to them as a group, I reminded them all that Liberals need to branch out into community while those seeking a new way of being among citizens would be wise to consider being the catalyst to help Liberals find relevance again. There seemed a sincere desire by both groups to move forward in that fashion and I was delighted.It would be a tale most sad if the Liberal grassroots, finally gaining the opportunity to have their say and express their ideas, performed it all in the vacuum of "Liberal-land," outside the highways and byways of community life and citizen responsibility. The group present that night opted to deploy as citizens to the food banks, festivals, environmental and other causes, and into mainstream life in general, to not only make the Liberal party more pedestrian, but to learn of the true issues of our community life in the process. This is the path the Liberal grassroots must now trod lest they end up having a renewal without people - kind of like some of our party conventions.