It is a simple question. Ok, maybe not so.
The balance of power or responsibility?
In an interview on CFAX 1070 with Pamela McCall, in the middle of the dramatic summer of 2017, she asked me straight. “What does it feel like to hold the balance of power?”
My response surprised her. It was quick and sharp and went something like this. “Uncomfortable. I prefer to think of it as a balance of responsibility. We share a balance of responsibility with all the other MLA’s in the legislature.”
It was not something that we discussed as a caucus. Those were just the words that fell out of my mouth in response. But, those words provide a powerful foundation that we have built on.
Negotiating, power
We were negotiating power. Who had it, how much they had, and what were the conditions they could use it. And, what we were feeling was the intense responsibility that we had to get it right.
In British Columbia, Canada and most other provinces up to that point, elections solve that issue. A single party wins a majority, usually a false majority, nevertheless they hold a majority of the seats and they have 100% of the power to govern.
And, our experience is they govern unchallenged. The result is not the best public policy. Rather, the goal is to maintain the power to govern unchallenged. So, decisions are made according to the latest polls or they listen most intently to their friends that get them there, and those who will keep them there.
There is no party in the legislature with a monopoly on good ideas. Or, bad ideas for that matter. Yet, that is the narrative we place on our government. Our party has all the good ideas, and their party has all the bad ideas. Third, and fourth parties, ruin the neat and tidy little game.
Governing should not be about power. It should be about responsibility. After all, isn’t good governance responsibly looking out for the public interest? Shouldn’t politicians be acting responsibly in the balance of everyone’s interest?
Instead, politicians and political parties have made it a game. Call it The Pursuit of Power. Give it the slogan, Gain it and maintain it. At all cost!
It is time to change the frame. The job at hand is responsibility governing the public interest. Get that right and the politics, sort themselves out. Indeed, the first group of politicians to balance the responsibility, will certainly be rewarded.
Right on Adam, it IS time to change the frame. Tribalism is for sport, and at least in sport everybody shakes hands & engages in other acts of sportsmanship post-competition. Tribalism shouldn’t have a place in modern politics.