{"id":9882,"date":"2015-02-19T07:46:22","date_gmt":"2015-02-19T12:46:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=9882"},"modified":"2015-03-04T22:20:47","modified_gmt":"2015-03-05T03:20:47","slug":"politics-as-usual-wheres-the-beef","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/politics-as-usual-wheres-the-beef\/","title":{"rendered":"POLITICS AS USUAL: Where’s the beef?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Do you remember those Wendy\u2019s commercials where the little old lady is handed a burger and looking at the puny little meat patty sandwiched between the huge bun says with disdain, \u201cWhere\u2019s the beef?\u201d
\nThat line became a well-used catchphrase to say, where\u2019s the meat? Where\u2019s the substance of an idea or a plan when one is presented with some cockamamie scheme?
\nRecently, I had to strongly resist the urge to scream that out when I attended an information session on yet another new \u201cinitiative\u201d being rolled out that was going to \u201cprotect\u201d our environment.
\nThe science, the evidence, the facts upon which this new initiative is based was sorely lacking but that didn\u2019t seem to matter to the folks in the room. They were too enamoured with this self-proclaimed \u201cinnovative\u201d idea to bother questioning the facts or lack thereof.
\nFact based decision making should be the norm, but I would settle for at least evidence based policy making. You know, developing new policies based on facts, not wishful thinking? Not based on what the latest enviro, financial, or educational guru has to say.
\nTime and time again, these gurus have been shown to be little more than snake oil salesmen. And yet the powers that be continue to be sucked in.
\nIt isn\u2019t just one level of government or one party that is especially prone to these kinds of logic defying decisions. Politicians of all stripes fall victim to the \u201cshiny toy\u201d syndrome. Everyone wants to be the leader \u2013 the greenest municipality, the best energy innovator, the government that \u201csaved\u201d education. But being new, being first isn\u2019t the being the best, and the rush to be so often leads to rather ill-advised hasty decision making.
\nIt\u2019s a case of \u201chaste makes waste\u201d just as our mothers warned us, but they are wasting our time and our money on these half-baked ideas.
\nThe two policy areas where you see the worst of this woeful lack of even common sense? Education and environment. It seems that every time we turn around we are subjected to yet another crackpot theory on how to educate our children or \u201cprotect\u201d our environment.
\nWhat we get instead are kids that can\u2019t do basic arithmetic in their heads and wind power that\u2019s little more than huffs and puffs.
\nWhat\u2019s worse is that many of those decision makers know that\u2019s all a bunch of hooey! Rather than look like they are behind the times, rather than risk looking like an uninformed rube, folks around the table \u2013 be it a Council table, the caucus table or a boardroom table \u2013 say nothing.
\nThey nod their heads in agreement, solemnly intoning their acquiescence to what is clearly insanity.
\nThe Emperor has no clothes and yet they take turns describing the colour of his coat.
\nWhat\u2019s lost on them all is that innovation \u2013 true innovation \u2013 is based on clear, reasoned thinking. It requires a careful examination of all the facts in evidence and often it is a recognition that sometimes the best solution, the best decision isn\u2019t based on new technology or the new idea, but rather the simplest, least complicated one.
\nSo, to our dear leaders I say, when next you are struggling with a \u201cbig decision\u201d, think horses not zebras\u2026<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Alison Collins-Mrakas Do you remember those Wendy\u2019s commercials where the little old lady is handed a burger and looking at the puny little meat patty sandwiched between the huge bun says with disdain, \u201cWhere\u2019s the beef?\u201d That line became a well-used catchphrase to say, where\u2019s the meat? Where\u2019s the substance of an idea or […]<\/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-9882","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\/p3D2k4-2zo","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-21 08:55:45","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\/9882","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=9882"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9882\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}