February 18, 2022
The Blame Game
Every time I hear somebody exclaim at how our governments have failed us regarding Covid, I cringe. First, because it’s dawning on me that such ideas and others are playing right into dangerous alt-right tropes that are working away to undermine public trust in government and democracy, that so many passionate well-meaning people are being manipulated by forces they aren’t even aware of, and not just those poor people’s moms who’ve lost their minds to Fox News. But I also cringe because there’s not a single government the world over who has managed to get Covid just right. For a while, Jacinda Ardern was the exception to that rule, but even her small island nation managed to eventually be out-thwarted by the virus, out-thwarting being precisely what a virus is for.
Across Canada, we’ve seen public health officials celebrated and then denigrated for their handling of one wave or another, and provinces whose governments are spread across the political spectrum all have to eventually resort to drastic measures to contain Covid spread. It’s true that provinces with conservative governments have tended to do more poorly, though that could also be because there’s a lot of those at the moment. I wonder if anything would have been different at all if Covid had come around a few years ago during that brief period where half of Canada’s provincial leaders were women. (Not unrelated: I am looking forward to reading Kate Graham’s new book No Second Chances: Women and Political Power in Canada.)
The only people who are sure they have the answers right now are the people outside of power, because it’s easy to dictate choices when you don’t have to accept any responsibility for their consequences. Governing, on the other hand, is hard, especially when there really are no right or easy answers, when every decision brings wins and losses. The political spectrum is so reductive, every single ideology inadequate on its own to address the reality of our society’s challenges, and that’s never been more clear than when it come to Covid, where every government in the world has gotten it wrong and gotten it right some of the time (seriously, even Florida was right at least once, though I don’t think that Brazil ever was, the exception that proves the pudding), no matter their ideas about policy and what government should be.
It’s such an interesting moment, as I’ve written before, when nothing is certain—which is the very opposite of saying that things are hopeless.
Instead what I’m saying is that we need hope—along with creativity, and knowledge, and wisdom, and expertise, and understanding, and kindness, and patience, and so many more essential things—more than ever.
We need to stop blaming each other, and our leaders, even if (and maybe sometimes especially if) they’re not our faves—particularly since our rage appears to be being harvested for profit at the moment. There’s honestly never been a better time to be a person who has no real responsibility for anything, even if powerlessness isn’t fun. Because these days, power isn’t much fun either.
This is very good, Kerry. I didn’t vote Liberal but I have to say that I mostly appreciate the work the federal government is doing. This is a hard time to govern and to cobble together measures and safeguards during a pandemic isn’t easy. I think the frustrating thing about watching the protests in Ottawa from my safe distance is that there is such a lack of knowledge on the part of those on the ground (though I suspect the ones pulling the strings are more cognizant, which is terrifying) of basic understanding of how a parliamentary democracy works. Sure, you can dislike a PM, you can wish for one of your choosing, but it takes work. He or she won’t simply vanish because you pull into town in your big rig with a sign with a noose, saying he or she should hang. Or that you can wave your white underwear on a stick and no one can touch you.
AND one day down the road those leaders aren’t going to be in power anymore, so what do you do with your movement that’s all constructed on hating on one guy once he’s gone? This is why I would like progressive politics in Ontario to be more than hating Doug Ford, even though Doug Ford often does make such a thing very easy.