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| TORCH PASSING
Thursday, October 13, 2022 ~ column #7149
Do you remember that speech?
You may be too young to have seen it in real-time, but surely most adults have seen a recording of the JFK inauguration speech when among other things, he referred to ‘the torch is passed to a new generation of Americans.’
That moment, that phrase, has been rolling around in my head lately.
In Canada, most national parties have done a re-think of their leadership or are about to. In Alberta, by a narrow margin, the party of right has chosen to keep itself together to win another mandate next spring by electing someone more right than centrist. Whether we watch her career, Mr. Poilievre’s or Mr. Trudeau’s – it’s been a time for reflection on several years of turbulence. It warrants some critical review and comparison to populist political trends elsewhere. Voters typically hope campaign rhetoric settles down and is inevitably shifted to pragmatism, but there is never a guarantee that today’s outrageous boasts might lead to a future of atrocious governing. We are sometimes shocked, but we must also admit when headlines stun our sensibilities – we should have expected it …
I was a child when JFK took his country – the world/democracy by storm, as did later leaders like Reagan, Clinton, and Obama. We have a Trudeau (Pierre), the UK had Thatcher, and various countries have had spectacular moments of glory between longer periods of mediocrity - but palatable peace and calm mediocrity.
Nobody passed me the torch – or gave it to my generation, which is not sour grapes on my part, but recognizing that through my lifetime, the ‘man/woman of the moment’ was always either older or younger than me, but not ‘like me.’
Or were they?
Most of us would agree that ‘what it takes’ to rise to the top in the leadership of any organization, political party, large corporation, or government is a combo of talent, drive, ego, resources and followership of your leadership that most of us would say, ‘not like me.’
But we vote.
Do we vote for who we think we might win, who we think is best, or who seems ‘like me?’
When political strategists plot campaigns and put their planks into their platforms – writing stump speeches, kissing babies and wooing crowds, the populism-du-jour drives their thinking; they want leaders who are ‘like me’, or who at least pretend and represent to understand people ‘like me.’
Reader feedback:
Scandalous, a culture we would have never expected from Canadians, keep voicing the correct way for decency, AG, Cancun, Mex.
Given the allegations that have been made the matter is more than likely in the hands of their insurers and associated legal counsel. Even if some board members wanted to respond publicly, and I’m sure some of them do, they are barred from doing so. Any statements could be deemed to the prejudice of the insurer and could result in loss of insurance coverage. To be clear, insurance will not respond to the commission of illegal acts, but only with respect to particular individuals. It would take more than a few paragraphs to to explain how and why so I won’t elaborate further. Suffice it to say there is enough blame to go around but not everyone at Hockey Canada is necessarily at fault, DM, Okotoks, AB
Good day Mark. Responding to BR's comment regarding Danielle Smith. I am also a member but have supported Danielle from the start including donating to her campaign. I would ask both of you to listen to her directly and not get caught up in the spin the media is putting on what she is saying. She is not a member of the establishment and is not being represented correctly by the media. If you don't think Ottawa is doing its best to destroy the economy of Alberta, I don't think we are working with the same information. Regards, MM, Calgary, AB
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