I don't encourage controversy on a sunny Sunday on the water. Not this time! After ten minutes of mindless prattle I exploded: "I can't listen to this rubbish any longer. You two babblers have no idea what you're talking about. Politicians I know are hard-working, caring and obsessed with an obligation to do good. You should have been with me campaigning last year if you think we're just along for the ride. It requires dedication. And if you lose you have nothing but a depleted bank account."
  I've eliminated some of the stronger language. But I stopped the two cluckers dead in their tracks. They thought they were safe, that "everyone they knew" was down on greedy, venal, vote-driven politicians. No wonder.
  I cried when the Harris Tories passed their Fewer Politicians Bill. I cried because I knew that politicians had fallen into such disrepute that reducing their number would appeal to the gut prejudices of voters. We shrank the number of MPPs, but we hardly noticed when the Premier's office staff went to heights never seen before. Or when Toronto City Council was reduced and fewer "greedy politicians could feed at the public trough."
  As a political tactic it is a winner.
  The irony is that the very people who will be the first victims have endorsed "less government," becoming less trusting and profoundly suspicious of every politician, whom they see as self-serving, and full of promises that are never kept. The two pundits on my boat on a sunny afternoon were echoes of this horrible new reality.
  The politicians of The Right (including many Liberals) feast on public cynicism. Our recent Federal election and the U.S. national election there was a lot of "give back money to the taxpayers because they know better than government how to spend it."
  Why does it work? Not just because it includes tax breaks. It works because too many people believe that government and politicians can't run anything. It works even when the Prime Minister gets favours for his Shawinigan cronies or we rush headlong into privatizing because "private business does it better" with no actual proof and lots of evidence to the contrary.
  Canadians are victims of pernicious propaganda from neo-cons and Global Business. Their imperatives, blended with a period of unparalleled growth, have persuaded all of us that the New Millennium is here and that ideals like personal initiative, entrepreneurism and the end of the welfare state have made it possible. The fact that this "expansion" has left millions in distress does not matter. That fact that the gap between rich and poor has widened makes no difference. The fact that world-wide poverty is rising does not slow their momentum. There is a whole new population of "haves" who have joined the parade, even though many of them are one paycheck away from homelessness. And with the bloom off the rose of the "boom" we may be facing desperate times.
  The NDP is still reeling from its defeat in Ontario, from the Clarke chaos in B.C., the repudiation (even by the Left) of the Rae government, and most recently, the party's descent into near oblivion federally. So the search is on for new truths.
  Worldwide the Left is questioning it's purpose. Under dozens of banners - from "Whither the Left?" to "Is there life after Tony Blair?" we navel-gaze. The NDP is in a post-defeat hunt for scapegoats. "We need a leader with more charisma than Alexa," or "We have to recover from the Bob Rae fiasco," or "Was Roy Romanow ever a true Social Democrat?"
  For the Left, demonizing ourselves is a mug's game. Looking for villains is counterproductive. I can't agree with the Buzz Hargrove clones who want a revival of militancy or with the Gerry Caplan theorists who believe we have lost our way. I think both are right. I think both are wrong.
  NDPers clash between those who see change as inevitable and those who want to return to the roots. It is no accident the Party is being written off by the other parties, by journalists and by ourselves.
  The Left must restore trust in government and in politics and politicians.
  You may not agree. You may want new charismatic leadership. You may want even more dialogue like the stultifying bickering at policy conventions. We are so concerned about being fair and equitable, we have tried to spread our blanket of concern over every issue we can.
  How do we recover the glory days when government was the last and best hope? Can we persuade voters that government does not operate for profit, even though think-tanks of the Right insist it be run like a business.

I think we have missed the point. What do you think?

And don't forget to take the Straight Goods poll.