Not one month after announcing that BC United, if elected, would enact the largest tax cut in British Columbia’s history, party leader Kevin Falcon sent that promise, dubious at best, to the paper shredder. The promise was a last ditch attempt to rescue BC United from certain disaster when British Columbians go to the polls next month.
Obviously that hasn't worked out and Falcon has now withdrawn his party from the upcoming provincial election in favour of joining with the B.C. Conservative party. He now has a new promise, saying "when common sense free-enterprise British Columbians are united, we get great things done." His decision was made in classic autocratic style, a political honcho spitting on democracy’s rudimentary principles.
What makes a “common sense, free-enterprise British Columbian”? Philosophers have mulled over a definition for the term “common sense” for centuries without ever reaching a consensus. I am partial to the definition attributed to Albert Einstein: “Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen.” Investopedia (www.investopedia.com) defines “free enterprise” to mean “Business activities that are not regulated by the government but are defined by a set of legal rules such as property rights, contracts, and competitive bidding.” Investopedia does not explain how legal rules are sustained without government regulations.
I agree with BC United’s leader that when united we can get “great things done.” However, even when united, controversy is inevitable in the pursuit of great things. It is impossible to get “great things done” without a squabble. The new Terrace hospital qualifies as a great thing, but this project was not without controversy. People were exasperated by the demolition of the established Seven Sisters complex, but come ribbon cutting time, even Seven Sisters protestors will accept our new hospital as a “great thing done.”
The resource revenue sharing agreement negotiated by area local governments and the province is another example of a great thing. It did not come about without controversy, no government gained everything it wanted, yet all praise the agreement as a “great thing done.” How about BC Hydro’s Site ‘C’ project? This multi-billion dollar project is still embroiled in controversy, but when completed its contribution to renewable energy generation will be recognized as a “great thing done.”
The deal made by the BC United and BC Conservative leaders amounts to a disgraceful abasement of our province’s political culture. Democracy needs compromise to resolve problems. Autocratic “I’m the Leader” style decisions breed resentment. Democracy’s political freedoms arise in a climate where citizens shape compromise solutions. There is a difference between fait accompli decisions made by party leaders accustomed to imposing their will on party members and political parties where members debate priorities, preferences, and a multitude of concerns in the pursuit of compromise solutions that call on all members, including the leader, to make allowances for each other.
Hockey tournaments produce winners and losers, but democracy needs everyone to give a little in an interminable search for an optimal middle ground. Over a longer term citizens will not feel respected as full members of society when governed by a political culture focused on winning at all cost. Autocratic leaders who cut secret deals behind closed doors to satisfy their lust for power will have followers, but not without a cost to society.
Autocratic political leadership invariably breeds bitterness and cynicism about democracy. When citizens are played like pawns on a chessboard, all but excluded from the political process, even the greatest of election-day victories will not be a “great thing done.”
