Bill, your article outlines a symptom of a much larger problem. What is the real problem? In my opinion, it can be summed up as politicians lie!!! They mislead us, they make promises they know they cannot keep, they spin and hide the truth and they avoid doing what is best for taxpayers if it does not serve themselves or their friends.
So why do they lie? There is no transparency in government and there is really no way to hold the government accountable, at least not before the next election.
We like to think we live in a democracy. The democratic process runs every four years for a period of four weeks. Once the votes are counted the democratic process ends. The premier, also called a dictator, in some Countries, takes absolute control. The Premier names 2 or 3 deputies with whom he/she will run the Province / Country (the inner circle). That means we have 49 or so elected officials (our MLAs) who are only there to vote in accordance with the party directive. Those 49 have no voice and the honest representative will tell you that they have no ability to bring forward the views of their constituents.
The political parties have worked diligently to insure their “leader” is a party loyalist. No outsiders allowed. What are some of the qualities the party leadership want in its leaders — loyalty to the party, someone without independent thinking, someone who would be dependent on the party insiders, poor leadership skills, weak background in managing a complex organization.
Who do these elected leaders believe they are accountable to— the party or the voters. They only have to face the voters every four years: they face the party leaders daily and the party reviews their leadership every year. Thus they can be booted out as “party leader” / premier once a year. But we as voters/ taxpayers have no ability to boot them out before 4 years are up. So who has the real power and the ability to enforce accountability. Who is in control????
Lack of transparency and no ability to hold officials accountable opens the citizens to abuse and to lies. Our elected officials know that, and they exploit that weakness. There are ways to give power back to the citizens– the right to recall elected officials who break promises or abuse the rights of taxpayers; and Referendums which give the citizens power over such things as tax levels, pay and pensions for elected officials, legality/ disclosure of political contributions, transparency , etc…
Something has to change. Unfortunately those in power know that change reduces their power and they are threatened by it. Yes we can look at the individual decisions made by the government but the willingness of politicians to lie, hide facts, break promises will be part of our lives forever; until procedures are implemented to return democracy and power to the citizens.
So you are quite correct a “political success” does not guarantee that the citizens are better off; and there is a need for a new start. I might differ as to what that “new start” needs to encompass.
This is just one more of the many instances wherein the current administration has failed to suitable deliver on campaign undertakings. It does have one benefit however, and that is that it further buttresses the reality that Nova Scotians are now experiencing a one term government…
Efficiency NS is starting to SMELL . It should never have been rolled into NSP in any way.
They can’t account for or measure their success.
My KWH usage has hardly changed even though I have 99% CLF and now LED lighting , low energy TV’s . NSP doesn’t want us consume less and the government can only affect the financial model if they do something to ensure savings in generation are passed on and doubt they can do that .If the government wants to help people lower electricity costs than it should subsidize better meter systems , get into the wind and solar business .
Bill, your article outlines a symptom of a much larger problem. What is the real problem? In my opinion, it can be summed up as politicians lie!!! They mislead us, they make promises they know they cannot keep, they spin and hide the truth and they avoid doing what is best for taxpayers if it does not serve themselves or their friends.
So why do they lie? There is no transparency in government and there is really no way to hold the government accountable, at least not before the next election.
We like to think we live in a democracy. The democratic process runs every four years for a period of four weeks. Once the votes are counted the democratic process ends. The premier, also called a dictator, in some Countries, takes absolute control. The Premier names 2 or 3 deputies with whom he/she will run the Province / Country (the inner circle). That means we have 49 or so elected officials (our MLAs) who are only there to vote in accordance with the party directive. Those 49 have no voice and the honest representative will tell you that they have no ability to bring forward the views of their constituents.
The political parties have worked diligently to insure their “leader” is a party loyalist. No outsiders allowed. What are some of the qualities the party leadership want in its leaders — loyalty to the party, someone without independent thinking, someone who would be dependent on the party insiders, poor leadership skills, weak background in managing a complex organization.
Who do these elected leaders believe they are accountable to— the party or the voters. They only have to face the voters every four years: they face the party leaders daily and the party reviews their leadership every year. Thus they can be booted out as “party leader” / premier once a year. But we as voters/ taxpayers have no ability to boot them out before 4 years are up. So who has the real power and the ability to enforce accountability. Who is in control????
Lack of transparency and no ability to hold officials accountable opens the citizens to abuse and to lies. Our elected officials know that, and they exploit that weakness. There are ways to give power back to the citizens– the right to recall elected officials who break promises or abuse the rights of taxpayers; and Referendums which give the citizens power over such things as tax levels, pay and pensions for elected officials, legality/ disclosure of political contributions, transparency , etc…
Something has to change. Unfortunately those in power know that change reduces their power and they are threatened by it. Yes we can look at the individual decisions made by the government but the willingness of politicians to lie, hide facts, break promises will be part of our lives forever; until procedures are implemented to return democracy and power to the citizens.
So you are quite correct a “political success” does not guarantee that the citizens are better off; and there is a need for a new start. I might differ as to what that “new start” needs to encompass.
Barry H | May 16, 2015 |
This is just one more of the many instances wherein the current administration has failed to suitable deliver on campaign undertakings. It does have one benefit however, and that is that it further buttresses the reality that Nova Scotians are now experiencing a one term government…
bob mackenzie | May 15, 2015 |
Efficiency NS is starting to SMELL . It should never have been rolled into NSP in any way.
They can’t account for or measure their success.
My KWH usage has hardly changed even though I have 99% CLF and now LED lighting , low energy TV’s . NSP doesn’t want us consume less and the government can only affect the financial model if they do something to ensure savings in generation are passed on and doubt they can do that .If the government wants to help people lower electricity costs than it should subsidize better meter systems , get into the wind and solar business .
peter S | May 15, 2015 |