Making Peaceful Revolution Impossible Makes Violent Revolution Inevitable.

Chester Bowles, the author and former U.S. congressman, once said, “Government is too big and too important to be left up to politicians”. Never have those words been truer than they are in Newfoundland and Labrador today.

The latest Auditor General’s report has proven once and for all that politicians, generally speaking, cannot be trusted. This is not to say there are no responsible political figures roaming the planet someplace, perhaps even our little slice of it, but they are certainly few and far between. What we are left with instead is a bunch of sticky fingered, self centered opportunists who would willingly sell their soul for one more perk and one more chance to “play the game”.

When the AG identified a handful of members who had collected 1.6 million dollars more than they were entitled to receive I shook my head and wrote it off as a few bad apples. When others were named for double billing I gave them the benefit of the doubt and thought, “hell, mistakes happen”. But the latest AG report speaks to something completely different and far, far more sinister in the halls of the Confederation Building in St. John's. Something no amount of explanation or rationalization can ever address. I'm referring to a complete breakdown of the basic principles of the electoral process and a sick perversion of democracy right here in Newfoundland and Labrador.

The AG has identified that in 2004 every sitting MHA was quietly (intentionally quietly I might add) granted an additional allowance of $ 2,800 because most had used up their existing constituency allowances far earlier than expected. When you consider the fact that it has already been reported (and will be again) that these allowances were used for everything from fridge magnets to "donations" the reality becomes quite clear. Think about what that says for a minute.

If nearly every member inexplicably used up their allowances early and it is a reality that htey spend them essentially any way they please, it doesn’t take a big leap of logic to figure out where the money went. Elections are expensive to run. That’s why political parties have supporters and members who donate to them. The more popular a party or politician is the more donations they receive the better chance they have to win. It’s not rocket science. Apparently it’s also not the case in this province anymore. Not when a member who is up for re-election has a pot of tax dollars at their disposal.

That a sitting MHA would even consider using a tax payer funded allowance intended to support his or her constituency office, cover transportation costs, etc. to help finance an election campaign is a sure sign that democracy in the province is truly dead and the rotting stench of it can be recognized across the province.

One of the basic concepts of democracy is that the public chooses the makeup of the government without being coerced or paid off. The electoral process is meant to give everyone an opportunity to put their name forward for office in an honest and fair election. The fact that our tax dollars could be used to illicitly finance election campaigns by sitting members and allow them to buy back their seat in government is sickening, repulsive and frightening in its connotations. I’ve heard that winning an election against an incumbent MHA is difficult and now I can fully understand why.

I started this article by quoting the author Chester Bowles but suddenly another author, H. L. Mencken, comes to mind. He summed it up quite succinctly when he said, "Every decent man is ashamed of the government he lives under."

To that I’ll simply add my own thoughts, "When a people can no longer trust their leaders and no longer depend on the very foundations of their democracy, can revolution be far behind?"