April 14, 2013

POLITICAL EXPECTATIONS

by Carol Gordon

This past weekend, two of our Canadian political parties held major events.  One was a national convention and the other a national leadership convention.

I watched on-line as young Justin Trudeau, the newly elected Liberal Party of Canada leader, addressed his convention and I was impressed and attracted by his inspiring, energetic, passionate, compassionate and charismatic presence. 

Reminiscent of other leaders, who over the course of my life, have also caught my attention and interest, Justin Trudeau spoke comfortably and easily in a way that seemed to clearly resonate with his audience.  It was visible by the expressions on people’s faces and their enthusiastic responses as well as by the more than 1500 “likes” and long column of congratulatory comments on Trudeau’s Facebook page.

I could see in people’s faces, their idealism being ignited and reignited as they are putting their faith and trust and hope in Trudeau.  And it’s easy to see how Trudeau, like his father before him, can be easily transformed into a bigger than life demigod.  Then we begin to expect that they can and will perform miracles.

How is it that we have a political process in which we place people on pedestals and proceed to create unrealistic expectations of our leaders?  Is it any wonder that we become disappointed and disillusioned in our politicians when they don’t meet our expectations?