{"id":8010,"date":"2014-09-05T00:08:13","date_gmt":"2014-09-05T04:08:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=8010"},"modified":"2014-09-10T13:52:28","modified_gmt":"2014-09-10T17:52:28","slug":"politics-as-usual-rodents-of-unusual-size","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/politics-as-usual-rodents-of-unusual-size\/","title":{"rendered":"POLITICS AS USUAL: Rodents of Unusual Size"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Many people enter the political realm only to exit it a short while later disgusted by what they see, experience or worse, by what they endure.
\nHopes for \u201cmaking a difference\u201d or \u201cpositive change\u201d are inevitably replaced by feelings of despair and desolation at the reality of how the political world actually works. Much like the practice of law isn\u2019t like Boston Legal, and police work isn\u2019t like Law and Order, the practice of politics is not like the West Wing. Certainly there are elements of it that are familiar, but the day to day \u201cwork\u201d of politics is nothing like what one would expect. It\u2019s not what\u2019s \u201cseen on TV.\u201d
\nPersonally, I found the decision-making process to be the most frustrating. Either it proceeded at positively glacial speed with multiple reports and meetings to decide (or not) on one item or, when a decision actually was made, it was often based more on emotion than on any discernible facts that I could see.
\nIn my humble opinion, much of what passes as governance is based almost entirely on agenda-driven as opposed to evidence-based decision making.
\nAffecting real and positive change \u2013 at any level of government \u2013 can be difficult. And for those that got into it for precisely that reason, the reality can be very disheartening.
\nThe only part of politics that is like what\u2019s portrayed on TV? It\u2019s the nastiness. Regardless of the office sought \u2013 Councillor to MP \u2013 all candidates will likely face at least one Rodent of Unusual Size: that particular breed of vermin that seeks to gnaw away at candidates until they give up, bloodied and defeated.
\nWe all say that we want honest, hard working people to represent our best interests in Ottawa, at Queen\u2019s Park and at the council table. So why then, when they do put their names forward either for a first time or as a veteran seeking to serve again, do we sit back like Romans in the coliseum and watch as they are fed to the Lions?
\nI think a large part of it is apathy. Many don\u2019t care enough about the process itself, let alone those that are engaged in it. So it\u2019s not surprising that we make barely a whisper when folks are torn to shreds before our very eyes.
\nThere\u2019s also the sense that \u201cthis is just how things are\u201d. \u201cPolitics is a nasty business\u201d or a \u201cblood sport\u201d. The good ones that happen to get spat out in the process are just collateral damage. They are seen as not tough enough to do the job anyway.
\nBut, who says that one has to be as tough as a gladiator just to seek public office? Great warriors don\u2019t make great legislators. If they did, then every country would be run by a military junta.
\nMany a good man or woman has been beaten down by the process. I can think of quite a few and from every political party. Joe Clark. Kim Campbell. Stephane Dion. Ed Broadbent. Unfairly or not, just some names that come to mind when I think of those that were chewed up by the machine.
\nThey are the Tall Poppies, the folks with something real to offer that are cut down just because of it.
\nOver the next 12 months or so, we are going to be faced with a barrage of messaging about candidates for both local office (Municipal election in October 2014) and Federal office (federal election in October 2015). At the risk of sounding like Pollyanna, I hope that we can all put down our scythes for a moment, and let the Tall Poppies grow.
\nUntil next week, stay informed, stay involved because this is \u2013 after all \u2013 Our Town.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Alison Collins-Mrakas Many people enter the political realm only to exit it a short while later disgusted by what they see, experience or worse, by what they endure. Hopes for \u201cmaking a difference\u201d or \u201cpositive change\u201d are inevitably replaced by feelings of despair and desolation at the reality of how the political world actually […]<\/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_feature_clip_id":0,"_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":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-25c","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-09-11 05:45:24","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8010","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=8010"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8010\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}