The upcoming provincial election is our once, in every four year chance, to use our power at the ballot box to elect or re-elect Members of the House of Assembly. Who is to be our leader? Who is to be our MHA? Whose footsteps do we follow?
Modern Greece is a financial basket case, but it was ancient Greece that blazed the trail and gave us demoskratos(democracy) which literally means - people power or the people rule. And it was Ancient Greece that gave us Socrates (469-399 B.C.).
It's his footsteps that could help lead to the best choice for our vote. Socrates as in - the Socratic Method - is based on questions, exposing contradictions and using critical thinking to arrive at the best solution possible.
For many voters, Socrates can go to Hades. For them questions and leadership are irrelevant. All that matters is the political stripe of the candidate be it New Democrat, Liberal or Progressive Conservative. Pity.
But questions do matter. In parliamentary democracies questions are so valued that sessions have a Question Period, a time each day set aside for the government to be grilled with real questions - unlike the softball, brownnose ones that political hacks or lackeys are wont to ask.
However, the more power politicians have, the more they will attempt to avoid questions. Prime ministers, premiers and cabinet ministers will at times even refuse to answer questions or in turn give answers so vague to be meaningless.
Ordinary citizens can be intimated by those in power. But not everybody. At public meetings I heard the late Danny Hiscock pull no punches with his questions. At Newfoundland and Labrador Teachers Associations meetings I heard the late Sister Magdalene O'Brien of the Presentation Sisters pull no punches with her questions. Danny and Sister O'Brien raised questions others could dare not ask. Socrates would have been proud of them both.
And that's what the upcoming election campaign needs lots of - Hiscocks and O'Briens - to step up to the plate and hit all candidates with all the hardball questions they can muster.
Is Muskrat Falls our best energy project to develop? Will its kilowatt charges for consumers be overbearing? Will the debt load of the project drag down government spending capability? Why isn't the de-activated Twin Falls power plant discussed?
Where will the cash come from to pay the bills once the offshore oil revenue starts to decrease and eventually dries up?
Why does the unemployment rate outside of the Avalon region continue to be so high?
Does any one in government have any idea where the fishery is going?
And there are tons of more questions about such issues as health care, forestry, mining, agriculture, environment, ferry service, highways, policing, municipal grants and recreation.
As for education here's a dilly. In 1971 there were 162,818 school children in the K-11 system. In 2011-12 we have approximately 67,400 school children in the K-12 system. You don't have to be a Socrates or Einstein to figure out the serious side effects of such a low birth rate. Is any one in government paying attention to that tsunami heading our way?
However, asking questions doesn't necessarily mean we will get forthright, clear answers. Nowadays, with the rah-rah-rah of slick campaigns, polls, Facebook, Twitter, websites, texting, blogs and whatnot, candidates know more than ever the game they have to play to get your vote. Thus, voters always have to be on guard for the baloney - vague, ambiguous answers or promises.
After a few trips on our fishing excursions across the river it became easy to follow the beaten path and be your own leader. But life paths are not always that simple, nor are things always that easy to see.
Life paths should us deeply concerned about those who want to lead us. Do they have any idea where we should be going? Will they seek our advice or pay us lip service when the path seems unsure? Will they turn around and go back when they have lost their way? Do we really want to follow those who want to lead?
Ask your questions or listen to the questions of others. Throw your partisan party allegiance into the dustbin and think about what will be said and make your best choice...first for your town and then the province.
And in the end make sure you and those around you exercise your - people power - and vote on Oct. 11.
Andy Barker at abdp9@hotmail.com
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