They Are Us

There is a sense of dread - not for me personally - but for the social and mental health of Canada. Voting for a leader who does not present a platform, who does not reveal ideas about how he will change Ontario for the better -   apart from an echo from his brother who went in with a sledge hammer under the banner of stopping the gravy train, there was nothing concrete in Doug Ford's campaign. But he was elected with 40% of the vote. Both of these men portray an image of thugs we should be afraid of and I wonder how voters translate that power into serving a civil society.

However it's not us or them because they are us.

They are humans who have feelings, judgements, vulnerability and doubts - but one of our most tragic flaws is projection - what we don't like in ourselves we project onto others. So said Carl Jung back in the earlier days of the twentieth century. They, them, us or me - mostly blame others for what goes wrong, and as long as our feelings are echoed,  or supported by "experts", we are happy to vote for the politicians who promote them.

Understanding politics, media, finance and civil society is complex and a leader who is tuned in is likely to be too nuanced for the braying crowd in the circus tent.  It's easy to feel elevated when our hatred is handed back to us from the halls of power. So we'd rather have a leader with a small vocabulary than a responsible leader whose intentions we don't understand.

Justice is not something that makes us feel good if we don't benefit from it.  Neither is there much satisfaction from great minds when they explain how something works if we don't see the immediate benefit.

How do I know this? I am human and have fallen into these habits without reflecting upon them until later.

No matter how smart I try to be  my opinions will not be gratefully received if they don't comfort the ones I am addressing.  Democracy  is abrasive when it's working, when it calls us out of the comfortable pew.

What has been revealed is that my inability to face and take responsibility for the politics of this world allows bad actors to create bigger problems for my family.