{"id":6852,"date":"2014-05-30T15:55:29","date_gmt":"2014-05-30T19:55:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=6852"},"modified":"2014-06-11T18:09:48","modified_gmt":"2014-06-11T22:09:48","slug":"politics-as-usual-leaders-we-deserve","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/politics-as-usual-leaders-we-deserve\/","title":{"rendered":"POLITICS AS USUAL: Leaders We Deserve"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

This is a short one this week folks, as I have been on vacation.
\nBesides, I admit I am at a bit of a loss as to what to say about the shenanigans of our fearless leaders \u2013 be they locally, provincially or federally. Unseemly spats with Supreme Court Justices, warring provincial leaders seeing whose arm is strong enough to fling the most mud, and a Mayor that is \u201cin\u201d rehab, if one accepts his Clintonian concept of the word \u201cin\u201d.
\nIt\u2019s difficult to remain positive or at least constructive under the circumstances. The political scene is in such a state of flux it\u2019s difficult to speak about anything of substance \u2013 not that any of our political wannabes would speak of substance.
\nGood heavens no.
\nSound bites and messaging, that\u2019s what\u2019s proffered to the populace.
\nDespite active campaigns at all levels of government (federal by-elections, provincial elections and municipal elections) the voters are simply not engaged. Don\u2019t believe me? Take a ride on public transit and ask 10 random people to name their local candidates.
\nI guarantee you that at least seven won\u2019t know who their candidates are, four won\u2019t know who the leaders are, and three won\u2019t even know there\u2019s an election on, let alone the fact that there are three.
\nWhy? Because the average voter is turned off.
\nThey see all politicians as cut from the same cloth.
\nLiars. Prevaricators. Opportunistic frauds. It\u2019s very sad, but very true.
\nNo one even bothers to vote anymore, which simply exacerbates the problem. Average voter turnouts are less than 40%. There\u2019s lots of hand wringing over the need for \u201cget out the vote\u201d type of activities. And they are worthwhile initiatives. Our voter turnouts are a disgrace.
\nBut the reality of politics negates those efforts.
\nThe reality is that politics today is reduced to an endless stream of nasty television spots meant to cast the \u201cother guy\u201d in as negative a light as possible. Misleading adverts that gloss over failings and burnish \u201caccomplishments\u201d to an unnatural sheen.
\nRumour-mongering to out-scandalize the scandal-wear, and folks that print outright lies, in an effort to get your vote \u2013 or at least get you NOT to vote for the other guy. It\u2019s all so tiresome, so predictable and so utterly futile.
\nIf you denote a tone of frustration, you\u2019re indeed perceptive.
\nI am frustrated. And fed up.
\nI am frustrated that regardless of the level of government, what we\u2019ve got is not the best we\u2019ve got \u2013 it\u2019s all we\u2019ve got.
\nAnd that\u2019s not enough.
\nWe deserve more.
\nI want straight shooters. I want honest people. I want leaders that tell us the truth, not couch everything they say in careful focus-group approved language designed to say nothing at all.
\nIt\u2019s poisoned pablum they\u2019re feeding us.
\nOur community \u2013 local and writ large \u2013 is in need of leaders, not politicians.
\nNot people who want office for the trappings, the status, the power. Not people who want office to settle scores \u2013 real or imagined.
\nOur community wants \u2013 in fact, deserves \u2013 leaders who understand that to lead is to serve.
\nI hope that on June 12, October 27 and Fall 2015 \u2013 we get the leaders we desperately need. It\u2019s up to all of us to make sure that happens.
\nUntil next week, stay informed, stay involved because this is, after all, Our Town.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Alison Collins-Mrakas This is a short one this week folks, as I have been on vacation. Besides, I admit I am at a bit of a loss as to what to say about the shenanigans of our fearless leaders \u2013 be they locally, provincially or federally. Unseemly spats with Supreme Court Justices, warring provincial […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_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}},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-1Mw","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-29 09:07:25","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\/6852","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=6852"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6852\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}