Disengagement too costly

People withdraw because they feel dis-empowered.

by Jody Dallaire, Dieppe Advisory Committee on Equal Opportunity between Women and Men

Thomas Jefferson once said that, "We don't have government by the majority. We have government by the majority who participate."

If you don't vote because you believe that the political system disregards your concerns, think about this: there is probably no better way to ensure that the political system continues to disregard your concerns than to disengage and not participate.

And yet there is a growing trend to pretend that we don't need to do our share for society, by giving up on politics, politicians and governments.

 

Withdrawing from activities such as keeping up with those issues that affect us, or participating as citizens to the extent that our busy lives allow us, is probably even more counterproductive than not voting. The only ones being punished are ourselves and our children.

That does not diminish the responsibility of governments and elected officials to incorporate citizen participation and engagement initiatives. But the first responsibility to look after our interests is on us.

As ancient Greek philosopher Pericles said in 500 BCE (Before the Common Era), "Just because you don't take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you".

We can find lots of reasons to not be involved, when we look for them. We find anecdotes of bad government, opportunistic politicians, snafus, corruption, partisanship. These stories can serve as handy excuses to give up on politics and governments.

In the same way, some teens think a bad teacher is an excuse to quit school. We know how smart that would be.

Canada is lucky to have experts, groups and think tanks looking at how to improve citizen participation and engagement. One new player is The Samara Foundation. Recently it released the results of interviews that it held with "outsiders" — among those 40 percent who did not vote in the last federal election. It also met with Canadians who participate in the political process. Come to find out, both groups had much in common. For one, both groups condemned politics.

Those who participated in the political process — even though they did not always get what they wanted and they were sometimes frustrated — still seemed to believe that they could bring about positive changes.

Those who did not participate were neither uninterested nor uninformed. They just felt like they were outsiders, based on their interactions with the political system. It's not that they didn't care or didn't know enough. It's just that they feel "little reason to engage in politics when politics does not engage with them," said the report. In essence, the outsiders feel that there is little that they can do that will change or influence the decisions of government.

The Samara Foundation report concludes that: "If people are disengaged from politics for specific and concrete reasons, there may also be specific and concrete ways through which to re-engage the Canadian public in politics. Participants told us that they simply need to feel that those in power will consider their voices, and that politics can become relevant to their everyday concerns. Thus, the troubling trend of declining political participation may be reversible."

Take household tax avoidance, for example, which undermined the Greek economy and seems to be common in some parts of Canada. I saw recently a good little television advertisement by a provincial revenue department.

A worker (who has been painting a house) is at the front door talking to the owner, who is holding a child in his arms. The house owner whispers, "I was wondering… If I pay cash, can we forget the receipt?"

The painter whispers back, "Your daughter… She's starting kindergarten, right?"

"Yes," says the dad.

"And how much will it cost you?"

"Nothing," says the dad.

The painter asks, "Who's paying?"

The client says, "Uh… society, I guess."

The painter says, "Are you a member of society?"

The client says, "Sure am!"

"So you want a receipt?"

"Yeah. I'll write you a cheque."

The announcer says, "When you pay by cheque, debit or credit, you're doing your part to recover the $3.5 billion that we collectively miss out on every year." Another ad in the series shows a auto mechanic who asks for payment in cash but is asked by the customer, "When you go to the hospital, how much does it cost you?"

Tax evasion at that level is a minor example of what I'm talking about. People duck their responsibilities in all kinds of ways. The system may be at fault for letting us down, but it's our responsibility to change that, given our interest in what is at stake — our money, our quality of life, our country and our future.

As Plato said, "The heaviest penalty for declining to rule, is to be ruled by someone inferior to yourself."

© Copyright 2012 Jody Dallaire, All rights Reserved. Written For: StraightGoods.ca