Buying Incompetence With Our Own Money
FORMER AMERICAN PRESIDENT JIMMY CARTER spoke out about politics and money last week, primarily about the lack of credibility for the former and too much influence of the latter.According to the International Business Journal, when Carter ran against Gerald Ford in 1976, neither contender raised campaign donations. That seems almost inconceivable, given what we’re observing in recent years. Both Carter and Ford only utilized the public monies allotted for the presidential race. Asked about it, Jimmy Carter acknowledged: “We didn’t raise money, so neither Gerald nor I were obligated to any special interest groups.”It is a sign of just how fervently politics today has grown dependent on wealth that this revelation came as something of a shock when released a few days ago. Both north and south of the 49th parallel, billions of dollars are being privately raised in a trend that is slowly sucking the legitimacy and meaning out of politics itself. About to leave office, George Washington provided a sage insight: “Money will invariably operate in the body of politics as spirit liquors on the human body. They prey on the vitals and ultimately destroy them”While the American election is largely predicated upon private donations to oversee governments that doggedly favour those with wealth, Canada has increasingly used public money to do the same thing. Canada is a fabulously rich nation, but recent federal governments have adopted policies that ensure that those with the most financial resources gain huge advantages. The use of public funds to gerrymander such an outcome has become a travesty of democracy that few seem to care about.The calling of a federal election weeks before necessary was a move that fooled no one. Yes, some elected officials attempted to spin that more of a democracy has to be a good thing, but, again, no one was buying. This wasn’t about the practice of democracy but the humiliation of it. In a time when politics is at its lowest ebb in Canada, to so purposefully manipulate it in favour of the governing Conservatives surely won’t help restore its reputation. But that’s not what the political schemers worry about anyway. Since their actions in recent years have demeaned politics to record lows, why would they worry about enhancing the democratic estate now? This is about power, not legitimacy, and we shouldn’t be fooled otherwise.The Globe and Mail’s Jeffrey Simpson was only pointing out the obvious when he wrote:
“The airwaves have been flooded with government advertising, paid for by taxpayers and used to buy some of the most expensive spots on television. The ads offer a thin veneer of information covering overtly partisan messaging for the Harper Conservatives. No government has ever spent so much money over such a long period of time on this sort of advertising.”
The millions in advertising and the billions cranked out on projects favouring government ridings just in time for the election represent more of naked ambition than anything seen in recent years. Yes there was prorogation, and yes, the Harper government had been the first in history to be found in contempt of Parliament. But it didn’t matter in the end because the government knew one thing we repeatedly refuse to acknowledge: we didn’t care, and they could get away with anything because of that reality.That surely is bad, but to do so while using our own taxpayer dollars to do it ultimately speaks to one clarion truth: political legitimacy today is about money, not gaining voter trust. That is the nub of it all, both north and south of the border. Our own money is being used to deny us that legitimacyJeffrey Simpson pointed out in the same article that Liberal PM Jean Chretien called an early election in 1996 and got away with it, while Liberal Premier, David Peterson, was crushed by voter anger for the same practice. But no one has seen the likes of what has happened in recent years, especially as it relates to the use of public funds. What we might save in taxes is spent on government advertising.And so Simpson wonders, “Whether voters will be annoyed, even outraged, by this blatant political manipulation, or will shrug because they assume all politicians do whatever it takes to win.” The title of his column? "If the election can be bought, the Conservatives will win." There it is again; democracy is now all about the money.Which will it be? How will citizens react? The PM is convinced we’ll be shruggers, or even shirkers, believing he’ll get away with it. Better yet would be the appearance of the shakers – those who press for the political order to find solutions to our greatest challenges instead of our smallest spirits. Governments have missed those targets for years and it’s time to demand a more effective form of politics that takes our hopes and delivers on them, instead of taking our money and selling us out.