A common complaint among voters is how nothing ever changes, even when people vote overwhelmingly for it.
Of course, this isn’t a problem limited to democracy. Most attempts at societal change fail — the Arab spring, an attempt to bring down longstanding dictators and replace them with parliamentary democracies across Northern Africa and the Middle East largely resulted in new dictators.
Here in the Northwest Territories, the most vocal change candidate, that being Kieron Testart, not only was rejected by his peers for the premier’s chair but even a cabinet seat when MLAs met to complete the traditional way of selecting government in the Westminster system. Testart had some interesting ideas on how to improve transparency, communication and accountability in cabinet, including allowing regular MLAs to sit in on key decision-making meetings to ensure everyone was on the same page. Evidently, regular MLAs are happy with the status quo.
So why does this happen?
A frequently shared two-panel cartoon opens with a meeting. A man at the podium asks the crowd, “Who wants change?” and everyone raises their hands in enthusiasm. In the second panel, the same man asks “Who wants to change?” (emphasis added) and everyone lowers their hands and heads in shame. A picture really can be worth a thousand words.
Last week, we looked at the cost of living and ways we could actually reduce expenses. We concluded we won’t follow through because most of us are actually reliant on a high cost of living to keep ourselves on the payroll. In spite of all the bluster and pretty much every single politician in the country saying its their top priority, it’s not going to get fixed unless at the expense of an established part of society. Those establishments have resources to fight back and there is always enough people willing to adopt whatever values their paycheque requires them to, so there will always be a large group of voters ready to resist change, or force things back to the way they were. Usually these reactionary governments double down on ensuring such changes cannot happen again.
Recall Justin Trudeau came in originally as the change candidate. He was promising lofty ideas like electoral reform, which died as each political party insisted on looking out for its own interests. Most of his changes fell flat, but he’s been more successful in bringing positive change than most politicians I’ve witnessed. Legalization of cannabis has created thousands of jobs and ended a longstanding injustice on Canadians. Truth and reconciliation is still in its infancy, but recall the resistance the Stephen Harper government presented to key issues facing Indigenous and Inuit peoples. These two changes alone are huge and were aided by popular support. But even so, for all the changes Trudeau brought about, the polls don’t seem to show that people appreciate them. The next government could very well undo all of it if we see a shift to the far-right philosophies that have overtaken North American politics.
Our overheated elections don’t serve us well either. Liberals and Conservatives clearly hate each other far more than any of Canada’s actual antagonists. This not only turns off voters — election turnout continues to be absolutely pathetic — but also potential leaders who don’t want to risk their jobs, businesses, mental health or family by putting themselves in the bullseye of malicious politics.
Elections frequently reward bullies and punish thinkers. Bullies have a vested interested in things staying the same, as they have built their leverage out of existing circumstances. Primitive politics perpetually prevents progress in the practice of self-preservation.
If voters really want change, they have to be the change themselves. They have to take chances with candidates with new ideas, accept governing is far more complicated and difficult than most of us give it credit for and be prepared to make sacrifices — often by surprise — to get said change. Government isn’t doing it for you.
Alternatively, we can follow history’s solution and just wait for change to force itself upon us.