John F. Kennedy’s, “Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country,” seems a long time ago. I doubt if it would play well to today’s audience. We live in a world of increasing cynicism, and right-wing politicians are ahead of the wave, while the Left is still caught in the old days of altruism and trust.
The traditional objective of the Left in democratic countries is to champion equality, to provide services to those who need them, regardless of social or economic class, gender or any other measure. The past hundred years has produced an impressive checklist of progress. Social justice, equality, medicare, employment insurance, gender equality, alternate gender rights: the list goes on.
But while the Left has been focusing on these goals, the Right has changed direction and tactics.
It used to be that the Right held to the honourable, to the traditional values. Lefties were looked at with suspicion of their loose morals and weird ideas. Well, that pose has gone by the wayside. The Right has recently given up on that charade and gone straight to the heart of the matter: pragmatism. Whatever works, use it.
In response the Left gleefully jumped on the “holier than thou” bandwagon, but it hasn’t been working so well for them, for two evident reasons:
- People don’t seem to care about the morals of politicians.
- Less people care about equality and helping those who need aid.
“Why should I vote for you?”
Justin Trudeau and Jagmeet Singh answer, “Because we gave you pharmacare and dental care and other help for the poor and needy.”
But to many, this translates as, “You should believe in my principles.”
The obvious response is, “But I don’t believe in those principles.”
Because for most voters these days, the real question is,
“What can you do for me?”
The fact is that the government can’t do much for most of these people, because they don’t need to. In case nobody noticed, we just ducked a recession. It’s going to take five years to notice the effects of any steps the federal and provincial governments take to increase housing. According to most statistics, for example, the “young males” that feel so hard done by are doing just fine.
Maybe I sound like an old curmudgeon, but fifty years ago when I married and started a career, I couldn’t afford a house in the Lower Mainland. We moved to Prince George and got into the housing market there. I know it’s worse now, but all the media ever talk about are prices in Vancouver and Toronto.
The Bottom Line.
With climate change and other problems, things are only going to get worse. And there are two ways to get votes from selfish people:
- Give them money – tax cuts they don’t deserve, rebates from taxes they hate.
- Lie to them. “Global warming isn’t a problem. Tax breaks for the rich and less regulation of industry will stimulate the economy.” You know, the economy we just spent two years of high interest rates trying to cool down. “Elect me and all your troubles will vanish.”
The only other way to win an election in this political climate is for a real leader to step up and get everyone enthused about winning the battles to come. But I don’t see any John F. Kennedys waiting in the wings.