{"id":18337,"date":"2017-09-13T16:27:27","date_gmt":"2017-09-13T20:27:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=18337"},"modified":"2017-09-13T16:27:27","modified_gmt":"2017-09-13T20:27:27","slug":"politics-as-usual-the-silly-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/politics-as-usual-the-silly-season\/","title":{"rendered":"POLITICS AS USUAL: The Silly Season"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Alison Collins-Mrakas<\/strong><\/p>\n

What makes a candidate successful?
\nAs we are heading towards a Provincial election in or around June 2018, I am wondering about who will seek to govern our Province, and who will actually get elected to do so.
\nI have my own opinions obviously but will leave those aside in the interest of refraining in engaging in what some will feel is partisan politics.
\nMy question then is more of a global one. How and why do some people get elected? In looking at some of the folks that hold or have held elected office, I can\u2019t help but wonder how in the heck anyone voted for them. I mean, good god! Just look at the cast of characters that govern our provinces, our country \u2013 or worse \u2013 other countries. Some seem positively vacuous, without even the semblance of the ability to form either an intelligent thought or even the inclination to attempt it.
\nOthers seem positively odious, without even a scintilla of redeeming personal attributes or the ethical or moral framework to even give a hoot to pretend that they do. And still others seem positively oblivious of the purpose of public office and instead are single-minded, hell bent on pushing a particular ideology irrespective of whether it in the best interest of the community or nation they seek to serve.
\nTo me, their limitations are real and frankly obvious. And yet, somehow, they get elected. I don\u2019t think I am particularly more astute than most folks and yet I can see through the nonsense that some of these \u201cleaders\u201d spew out. And yet untold thousands buy what they\u2019re selling \u2013 lock, stock and barrel.
\nBut why? Are people gullible? Unobservant? Apathetic? Or all of the above? Or do some candidates run spectacular campaigns that appeal to whatever it is the voters apparently want?
\nI think it\u2019s a combination of all of it and none of it, and a wee bit of, who the heck knows\u2026luck, I guess? Or an electorate that simply wants change and will vote for the guy \u2013 or gal \u2013 who appears to be the opposite of whatever currently occupies the office.
\nIn speaking to the issue of campaigns, I was watching a documentary on Netflix, \u201cHow to Win the US Presidency\u201d, and was just amazed at the lengths that some have gone to secure a win.
\nDirty deeds don\u2019t really describe the tactics of some campaign teams. Vicious, underhanded, nefarious and just plain nasty would be better descriptors. I don\u2019t know what appalled me more, the tactics used or the fact that they worked. I think the latter.
\nNo one is perfect \u2013 least of all a politician \u2013 but some people are so ill-suited to public office that one has to wonder just why they wanted to do it in the first place. Prestige, I guess. Or perhaps some other deep-seated need that only a psychologist could uncover.
\nBut the point is, there are people in office that do not belong there. And by belong there, I mean they do not have the skill set, the temperament, or the work ethic to do the job for which they have been elected.
\nAs we enter the silly season of Provincial races and, in the US, Congressional races, it will be interesting to see who steps forward to seek office and who will ultimately hold it.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Alison Collins-Mrakas What makes a candidate successful? As we are heading towards a Provincial election in or around June 2018, I am wondering about who will seek to govern our Province, and who will actually get elected to do so. I have my own opinions obviously but will leave those aside in the interest […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[29,28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-columns","category-opinion"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-4LL","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-23 14:22:50","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18337\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}