I am usually hopeful. Today, not so
much.
The contentious spirit, the vast
expenditure of monies evidenced in our British Columbia political
climate as individuals vie for control of political parties and
ultimately for the governing mandate of the province is a waste of
resources of all kinds. This is however a diminutive display in a
small arena which typifies what humanity is doing on a much larger
scale around the world. Wikileaks are merely a temporary
embarrassment for nations treating one another with suspicion and
disrespect in the midst of a veneer of good relations. Elsewhere
North Korea simply ignores the politics and aggressively blows up
South Korean property. And all of this, for what?
Back to British Columbia. Progress is
inhibited because there is so much wheel-spinning as individuals and
parties protect themselves. Working together is a concept that eludes
our kind. We can theorize but the personalities who are driven to
acquire power are hot-wired to fight for factional interests. That's
because they get to the power station by accommodations to special
interests which thereafter must be placated. The greater interest and
greater good of the whole, the province, the people, the seniors, the
children, the disabled, the students, the teachers, the medical
professionals, the tradespeople, are given perfunctory attention. The
resources of this province should be viewed as belonging to all of
us. Somehow the government has philosophically divorced itself from
us but refused to accept this. From an historical anecdote, our
government is the kind that gives the province's teachers grief and
delay at the bargaining table and then follows it up by an outlandish
in our faces raise for MLAs.
Our government is the consumer society.
It devours money. It passes legislation and creates programs for the self-serving purpose of generating more usable dollars to
consume on projects that do not matter and do not help the whole. Yet
when the budget and the funds are challenging, the really important
ministries and services that help us are slashed or eliminated. Isn't
that right? Haven't you read about this before?
Yes, well, sorry about all that, but it
is illustrative of my frustration with the upper echelon of the
Ministry of Children which should and could work together with the
Representative of Children and Youth, rather than moving
instinctively into a defensive posture. An objective appraisal of
MCFD by the Rep should be seen as helpful and on the other hand the
Representative could be making constructive suggestions over the
months rather than presenting a landmine report once every couple of
years. We really know how to do things incorrectly. And the Governing
Liberal Cabinet refuses to put money where it would do the most good.
So, I need another dark roast coffee right now to fortify me to think
about our provincial leaders who cannot be trusted with the best
interests of children when they spend most of their time marketing
themselves, roasting their opponents or planting IEDs for one
another. It would be so refreshing to hear a politician speak about
ministry to children, parents and families from a position of sincere
commitment.
