This is a fall overloaded with elections. In Saskatchewan, we are just through a spate of school board, urban and rural municipal elections.
There is a federal election ongoing, as anyone who is not blind, deaf or living in seclusion somewhere will know. Canadian Wheat Board elections are heating up.
This should be democracy at its finest.
It isn’t. While we have had school board, urban and rural municipal elections, many of the candidates have been put into office by acclamation.
In many cases, a second call for nominations was necessary and, in too many cases, even after the second call there are still vacancies.
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Explanations for this range from voter burnout to cynicism about people who take elected positions to a sense of not caring and not wanting to be involved.
Whatever the reason, the people who don’t run for office don’t hesitate to criticize those who do.
I read an article recently by a disgruntled newspaper editor offering his shoes to a complaining customer.
He writes, “Like me, they are imperfect. The toes are scuffed from the times I tripped up …The laces are tied in double knots to brace me for those inevitable confrontations that follow when I make mistakes.
“The tongue is well chewed from the times I have bitten it.The leather is damp from the occasions I have slipped and put my foot in.”
A good lesson, I thought, not just in business but in politics.
If we are cynical about our politicians, we should remember who it is that voted them into office.
I have seen people turn out in droves to protest this or that. But when an election comes along and people are asked to run for office, where are they?
I have a profound admiration for people who let their names stand, whether it be for Parliament or the school board.
These people, whether I agree with them or not, have a point of view they are not afraid to publicly declare.
Anyone who runs for office, and is elected, automatically gives up a fair amount of time to the job at the expense of family and personal life.
I wish there was some way society could insist that every person must serve at least one term in government, be it at the municipal, provincial or national level.
Having served, a person has a different perspective on the process of governing, for better or worse.
Barring that, the least we can all do is get out and vote.
Voting is a privilege of our citizenship, but more than that, it is a right that we should each carefully exercise.
