Sunday, June 23, 2013

Lazy Sunday # 278: The Little People

http://www.thestar.com/content/dam/thestar/news/canada/2013/05/31/why_stephen_harper_should_appoint_mike_duffy_to_cabinet_walkom/senator_mike_duffy.jpg.size.xxlarge.letterbox.jpg

Whenever elected members of any level of government vote themselves or those in government employ a raise, the argument is invariably made that such an increase is necessary in order to attract the best and brightest to public service.

For it seems, we, the little people, need the governance and guidance of those far more intelligent and of much stronger character than we possess and the only way to encourage such people to care for us is to open the public purse a little wider.

My response to this has always been, “Why hasn’t that worked so far?”.

I just completed a cross Canada tour and one thing that struck me from one end of the country to the other was just how bereft of class, character and accountability are so many who purport to lead us.

Virtually every Mayor and public official in Quebec seems to be either under arrest or under investigation for being on the take.

In Ontario, government minions insist it was okay to delete all record of cabinet decisions that have cost the province hundreds of millions of dollars while saving political careers.

We have three Conservative Senators with six figure salaries and almost as much more available in public perks up to their necks in financial scandals.

There are NDP Members of Parliament, always eager to bump up our taxes, who apparently haven’t bothered paying their own.

Meanwhile, the leader of the Liberal party hop-scotches the nation charging a five figure fee to speak to charities, his way of further assisting we, the little people, in helping our fellow citizens, I guess.

No matter which party you might vote for, there doesn’t seem to be a one that has actually found the kind of high-minded public servants we’ve been told it takes good money to capture.

And that rot apparently has become ingrained in the career bureaucrats who implement the laws passed to care for the little people who pay for it all, while their own perks, indexed pensions and the aggrandizement of their positions continually increase.

In Canada, we seem to have an epidemic of civil servants booking off sick when they’re not. And South of the border, it appears Americans have tax collectors who need to know what books you read and the content of your prayers before determining how much you might owe them.

It is, to come to the point, a massive and tragic failure of character by all concerned. An entire governing class proven incapable of honesty or accountability. A revelation finally verbalized a week ago by a frustrated to the point of tears American Congressman involved in the IRS investigation.

It’s a speech that makes you finally realize who “the little people” in our society really are. And why there will never be enough money to make them do what’s expected of them.

Enjoy Your Sunday.

No comments: