Rathgeber wasn’t the first to bolt from a political party in the last few decades, but in such a hyper-partisan age his exit had something of the authentic in it.
It’s likely few of us comprehend what this will cost the Alberta MP. His riding association has spoken out against his action and his chance of winning in the next contest is nil. He’ll be ostracized and isolated.
And yet in some ways he won’t. Through a remarkably honest action, he has earned grudging respect from more Canadians than he realizes.
He could have crossed the floor and been welcomed as a hero by other parties, but he was too principled for that. Besides, what would have been the point? Any such embrace would quickly be dashed the moment he took a reasoned stand with his new cohorts.
Instead, Rathgeber quietly stated that the Conservative Party was no longer the party he had joined and took his place as an independent, his political days likely cut short in the next election.
We have all suspected that politics has come down to this, but it remains difficult to accept that honorable individuals get sidelined by tribal cabals. Rathgeber recalled those days when, as Opposition leader, Stephen Harper had endorsed free votes, desired changes to the Election Act so that MPs wouldn’t be so beholden to party leaders and remarked that any true prime minister wouldn’t muzzle his caucus.
We all understand that it’s easy to promise such things when you’re not in government and that all parties have done it in one form or another. But still, the reality that any MP, and especially the principled ones, can be sidelined by powerful party structures increasingly strikes us as galling.
It is important to remember that this isn’t about team spirit but individual rights — the ability of a person elected by his or her constituency to work within a legislative chamber on the basis of the right given by citizens.
Rathgeber’s seclusion is but another sign that our democratic system is on the verge of dysfunction, maybe broken.
In fact it might be true that much in the democratic state has fallen into disrepair: politicians who can’t speak for themselves, parties that can’t co-operate together to face our greatest challenges, citizens who no longer vote, and prime ministers who no longer care.
It’s total war — not between the left and the right, but between citizens and the political estate. When one MP can’t stand up and obey his conscience in that one place where democracy is to be revered more than any other, then what is left?
Yet perhaps there is hope. More citizen groups are increasing their political engagement. Communities are fighting for better representation. The political parties that practice a more severe kind of partisanship are watching their popularity tumble.
Nevertheless, after all this we are left with that one crucial individual who stands at the end of the line for citizen aspirations and the beginning of the line for political reform — the lone member of Parliament.
It’s an easy thing to place the blame for ineffectiveness on the party system, caucus discipline or even citizen lethargy, but these wouldn’t bring us to the real solution. For that to occur, each political representative would have to risk all to stand with their constituents or on the foundations of their own conscience.
Should they fall into the party line to the exclusion of their responsibility, then ultimately the buck stops with them. They can remain firm or they can fail. They can advocate for their constituents or capitulate to their political bosses. They can honour Parliament or they can humiliate it.
The true hope for the political order will be in the honorable conduct of the individual MP, not in the benign promises of a leader. Courage is what is required, and Brent Rathgeber has shown us what is possible.
Original Article
Source: lfpress.com
Author: Glen Pearson
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