I read an article in the National Post online today. Titled “When Partisans and Pundits Attack” and written by John Mraz, it discussed the media conflagration around Liberal MP Ruby Dhalla. Mr. Mraz provides the requisite “innocent until proven guilty” point as a commentary as his and other media outlets tear to shred another public figure with a combination of limited facts, rumor and innuendo.
It is not surprising that the politicians of today pale beside their historical counterparts. The womanizing, hard-drinking, racist bastards of political legend could never be elected today. Now we get white bread politicians whose main objective is to be as inoffensive as possible.
This is not simply the fault of the media but our own. Our desire to know every foible, failing and historic indiscretion is fed by a news juggernaut recognizing and feeding that desire. We are, in fact, the authors of our own demise.
Looking back, the political actions which build the infrastructures of democracies like the US, Canada and Britain were hopelessly corrupt. Contracts were bought and sold. Favors were currency. It was a time of massive growth and the creation of our middle class.
Somewhere, we lost our perspective. We turned into jealous, moralistic hypocrites.
So Dr. Dhalla had issues with some employees. Who cares?
So Bill Clinton got a hummer and did not want to admit it to the world. He was a president, not a priest.
So Sarah Palin lied about the bridge to nowhere and other things. We have forced politicians to lie because anything, truth or not, could be spun into a crisis.
Business books all state, in one fashion or another, that success is the result of working through failures. As an electorate, we do not seem to want success.