In praise of negativity
MANUFACTURING DISSENT If politicians don’t act happy, we criticize them. So why is it that voters and media are allowed to be negative about politics, but our leaders have to always be smiling?
“ We will fight to move our country forward, not backward.” Paul Martin, Nov. 28
This is what happens when they try to be upbeat. On the day his government fell, the Prime Minister’s speech invoked the word “ optimism” so many times it almost seemed to be a compulsion, like the most benign Tourette’s tic ever. Stephen Harper, for his part, shed his often dour tone to almost giddily promise “ a bright new future for this great country.” They should get nasty. Nasty works. Voters want to hear the nasty stuff, and if they aren’t hearing it from the TV they’ll say it themselves.
After all, neither man has managed to persuade the voters that they have an agenda worth getting excited about. Martin, of course, is as right wing or as left wing — or as fond of or hostile to Americans, or as opposed to or supportive of same-sex marriage — as his survival of the moment requires. Harper is an economist; when commentators said his GST cut wasn’t much help economically, they weren’t telling him something he didn’t know. And Jack Layton, the man who says he wants to make Parliament work, was the guy who brought it down. But if they may have a hard time explaining themselves, they’ve got a pretty good take on each other, actually. Harper derides Martin as an apologist for corruption, and he’s obviously got a point. Martin’s characterization of Harper as a terrifying figure clearly works with a fair number of voters. And though the media will sometimes take them to task, of course we love (and need) a good pissing match now and again. When Layton recently proclaimed Harper to be not scary, the media reaction had a disappointed tenor, like everyone feels when the neighbourhood cockfight is cancelled. Last Tuesday on George Stroumboulopoulos’ show The Hour, commentator Mathieu Chantelois blasted the leaders for running negative campaigns before they’d even started. Why was he going negative on going negative? Because venting is fun and easy, and probably expresses the most natural emotional state of the modern middle- class human. Once you’re in your car this morning, just take a look at the faces in the vehicles around you in the parking lot or the DVP ( assuming you can tell the difference). “ Forward, not back.” U. K. Labour Party’s 2005 election slogan “( The Liberal party) is also the best place to do my job as a member of Parliament — moving forward, not backward.” Scott Brison, Jan. 4, 2004 “ We must go forward, not backward; upward, not forward; and always twirling, twirling, twirling towards freedom!” Kang, the alien, The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror VII, Oct. 27, 1996 Contemporary drivers can avail themselves of heat, conditioned air, a computer, a cellphone, GPS, a niche satellite radio station playing only their very favourite music, a navigational system with a celebrity voice — why yes, Mr. T, that is my exit — and a seat that adjusts to conform to the shape and size of the driver’s body. And, if it’s unavoidable, there may even be a real live passenger to provide such human contact as they still need. As someone who drove a ’ 92 Hyundai Excel for an absurdly long time, every ride in a modern vehicle feels like re- entering the womb. But are these drivers happy? Not by a long shot. They’re grinding their teeth, fuming at an oversight by a spouse ( whom they love) or a slight at work ( where their money is made). They’re snarling about something wrong with their house or their family. And if all of those things are perfect, there’s always the Leafs. In short, the very things that make their lives happy are making their lives miserable. So don’t try to come on all Johnny Sunshine with the swing voter. They identify with fear, frustration and wrath. Ask yourself: do any of your friends volunteer that they like a given leader? Not likely. But ask them which one they hate and settle in for a nice long chat. The Liberals, certainly, have gotten the message. By and large Martin’s campaign speeches have been vague, forgettable and not to be endured while operating heavy machinery. But the one time he did catch the ear was again last Tuesday, when speaking to Liberal supporters and railing against the “ alliance” of “ neocons,” “ separatists” and “socialists” who brought him down. Four scare words in about three seconds. Nicely done! More cheap shots will eventually start to flow, probably from attack dogs like the Liberals’ Scott Reid and Tories’ Jason Kenney rather than the placid, kindhearted men in charge, who would probably faint with horror if they knew. Of course, all this negativism has a cost, as Chantelois and others have observed. It leads people to believe that none of the leaders is worthy of their support, that their vote won’t change anything and that the election isn’t about anything worthwhile. Which is more or less what every commentator has been saying all along. The public will turn away from politics and toward their own lives, where their frustrations just might be soluble by their own efforts.
In other words, we can twirl, twirl, twirl towards freedom on our own. ON A RELATED NOTE
If you can’t find anyone to root for, try rooting against somebody.
I always check who’s the worst team in any given league ( you can do it, Raptors!) and I’m curious about which federal candidate will get the least votes in the country.
Searching last year’s results suggests that in this regard the Marxist- Leninist Party is an absolute machine, dominating the cellar. Brian Sproule’s candidacy for the party in the B. C. riding Southern Interior yielded him a mighty 39 votes in a riding of 96,000 people.
That hardy perennial Miguel Figueroa, veteran of eight campaigns, didn’t fare much better, taking 62 votes in BeachesEast York under the Communist banner to finish just 22,432 behind Maria Minna.
His listed profession: “ Political organizer.” I normally wouldn’t single him out for mockery, but my corporate masters insist.*
MIND BLOGGLING
Since a U. S. blogger published details of Gomery testimony that were under a publication ban at the time, it’s been said that bloggers brought down this government. Monte Solberg aims to finish the job. Solberg arrived on the federal scene in 1993 as a Reformer when I toiled at the Medicine Hat News, writing editorials on inflation that are as forgotten now as they were then. My friend Barry covered politics, and found Solberg young, telegenic, smart and likeable; in short, given Barry’s politics, Monte was the Antichrist.
Other politicians must be careful to shade what’s on their mind — consider Michael Ignatieff — and the handful of MPs’ blogs reflect this. But the Medicine Hat MP enjoys the comfort a mind-bending 65 per cent margin of victory in 2004. No, that’s not his vote, that his margin. An excerpt from the site www. montesolberg. com:
“ Dec. 3: The atmosphere on the media bus is a combination of cracking up, complaining, teasing each other, heart to hearts about kids, questions about party policy, and even the occasional song. It’s a combination of field trip for big kids and a hunting expedition where the hunted ( me, my party and Stephen), and the hunters ( them), get together to discuss how the hunt is going. The lion and lamb lay down together to talk about how to braise the lamb chops.
“ But as weird as our relationship is, I am comforted to know that journalists are human. Cut them and they bleed. Yes they mostly bleed ice water, sulfuric acid and engine oil, but there are also traces elements of real humanity.” We won’t get anything this good out of Ignatieff until the race is over. Solberg’s blog, as noted by Star media writer Antonia Zerbisias, seems to be the gold standard among politicians. But Tory ally Chuck Strahl also has one, whose chief revelation is that Strahl can’t spell Svend Robinson or even Joe Thornton. But I hate to be negative . . . Where are the other politicians with decent blogs? Drop me a line at ggfrase@thestar.ca.
* Figueroa did beat the local Marxist- Leninist candidate. Splitters!