Politics is a nasty word to politicians

A government that is entirely partisan is no more likely to survive than the Savage administration, which was almost entirely nonpartisan

It’s always a little disorienting to hear politicians bemoan politics as the nefarious motive of their opponents.

You’re unlikely to hear a welder criticize another for fixing something with a weld, or an accountant deriding a competitor for applying accounting principles to put in order the books of a coveted client. Yet, few can spit the word “politics” with greater distaste than a politician who’s politicking.

Since the province announced closure of two Cape Breton hospitals, contenders for the Nova Scotia Tory leadership have become, to varying degrees, harsh critics of the Liberal government for “playing politics” with the health needs of Nova Scotians.

Politics is characterized as a game to be played, not a vocation to be practiced, even by these men and women who are squandering their enjoyment of long summer days and warm nights working like Spartans to harness every loose Tory vote. In other words, politicking to beat the band.

Several of the would-be PC leaders are adamant they will accomplish a feat promised by countless others of every political hue, but achieved by none – namely, removal of politics from the art of statecraft. That success in the quixotic quest is as undesirable as it is unattainable matters not at all.

The innocents in the arena may think they are making a promise they can keep; the veterans are playing along, tossing some wretched Liberal red meat to a crowd born into the party or called to the conservative cause.

What they are all doing is attempting to establish the market imperative of differentiation from their rivals. Reminiscent of the soft drink that once sold itself as the “un-cola,” the politician claims a purity that presumes a higher order of public duty than the practice of politics essential to the welfare of a democracy.

Because this is a family feud, and all must be seen to put the greater good of party unity ahead of personal ambition, the target of public scorn is outside the tight little circle of leadership aspirants. Each vies for the title of giant slayer by castigating the detestable Grits, and the odd New Democrat, with more stinging venom than the others.

At the risk of descending into semantics, what the Tory leadership candidates mean to say when they accuse the Liberals of playing politics is that the government is putting partisan considerations ahead of public welfare.

Most governments allow partisan consideration to play in some decisions, but also understand the risks of grounding important choices in partisan politics generally outweigh the rewards.

Democracies, by definition, are led by politicians, and the only way to remove politics from statecraft is to also remove the politicians, leaving what? As Churchill said, democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others.

Unlike most jurisdictions, Nova Scotia has not-too-distant experience with a government that put aside its own political well-being and did so with full knowledge that it was, almost certainly, committing political suicide. That was the four-year Liberal government led by John Savage from 1993 to 1997, where bad politics in the long-term public interest was an unwelcome badge of honour, and the source of internal gallows humour. Some members of the Savage cabinet referred to their political strategy as the “stampeding lemmings” plan, a reference to the odd propensity of the rodents to rush off seaside cliffs to their certain and ultimate fate. The politics of that government became so unpalatable that it met its early demise at the hands of fellow Liberals.

As with most things, moderation is key in the practice of politics by governments. A government that is entirely partisan is no more likely to survive than the Savage administration, which was almost entirely nonpartisan.

The five Tory leadership hopefuls – Tim Houston (Pictou East); Cape Breton Regional Municipality Mayor Cecil Clarke; Elizabeth Smith-McCrossin (Cumberland North); John Lohr (Kings North) and Julie Chaisson, the only nonelected one in the bunch – will continue to attack Liberals for putting politics ahead of people up to, and after one becomes leader on October 27.

They are merely connecting to the electorate by sharing public disdain for things political. But the practice seems self-defeating in the long run, as today’s partisan purist becomes tomorrow’s politically-motivated premier, and more people drift away from the public life of the province because it is the realm of those detestable politicians.

“As Churchill said, democracy is the worst form of government, except for all the others.”