When did governments become the enemy of the governed?
In the last months, I can\’t remember any conversation in which anyone said anything complimentary about any level of government – federal, provincial, or municipal.
Granted, I didn\’t interview several thousand randomly chosen people to get results accurate to within 5 percentage points 19 times out of 20.
But I find the anecdotal trend disturbing, just the same.
I\’m not referring to polls that claim a certain percentage of the people think the Liberals are doing a good job, or a different percentage who think the Conservatives or NDP would do better. I\’m talking about a pervasive attitude against government of any flavor.
Shift in attitudes
When I was younger, I thought governments were there to serve the people. I went to those governments voluntarily for assistance.
When we were newly married, I wanted to build a garage in our back yard. The building inspector in Vancouver helped me site the garage legally. He dropped by four or five times during construction. Each time, he gave me valuable tips. Some even saved money.
By contrast, four different builders in Lake Country independently volunteered that they considered the local government\’s processes an impediment to be overcome, worked through, or evaded.
Similarly, the provincial government seems to reap scorn for its handling of health and education.
And the federal government is seen as a joke, squandering billions on patronage and make-work programs for civil service employees.
This is more than dissatisfaction with a particular political party. It\’s cynicism about the system as a whole.
Climate of distrust
In the past, monarchs and rulers have been unpopular. Some have been hated. But I doubt if they\’ve ever been considered irrelevant.
Author Steven Covey suggests that we developed a distrust of all institutions during the 1970s – perhaps as a result of the Vietnam war.
He\’s wrong. We don\’t all distrust all institutions.
In spite of Enron and World.com, many who condemn all governments still believe firmly in a free market economy dominated by corporations such as Wal-Mart, GM, and Coca Cola.
Personally, I distrust large corporations even more than governments. We can at least vote governments out. Corporations, on the other hand, especially foreign-based ones, march to their own brass bands.
The climate of distrust concerns me. The foundation of our social system in Canada is Christian. It may be post-Christian, but if so, it is decidedly post-Christian, not post-Muslim or post-Hindu.
And Christianity does not have anarchy at its core. God is, of course, the ultimate authority. But also, “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar\’s,†said Jesus. And “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God,†wrote Paul.
I suspect that some new social ethic – or lack of it – is emerging in our society. But I\’m a bit worried about what shape it may take.