In recent history, we have had Rob Ford elected as mayor of Toronto. Then, casting himself as standing up for the little guy, Donald Trump was elected to lead the world's superpower. Then Canadians in Ontario did one better than Rob Ford and elected his even more inelegant brother Doug, not as mayor, but as Premier of Canada's biggest province. Now, in the UK, Boris Johnson wins a huge mandate to push through with Brexit.
Against the advice of the political elite, again and again, Westerners entered the ballot box and voted for the non-conformist candidate. The masses in the UK have decided they would rather "go-it-alone" than live under an obscure form of "government-by-the-elite" in the European Union. Americans will very likely elect belligerent Trump again. Even Andrew Scheer, without a clear Conservative vision for Canada, but symbolizing the embattled "everyman" image, succeeded in gaining the popular vote.
Why is this? What is going on?
Voters seem to have a sustained public repudiation of the political elite and their politically correct ideas. Public distrust of government is high. When your work is attacked; as in the oil and gas sector, undefended; as in the logging sector, your taxes increased to pay for increasingly high salaries for government employees far above the private sector averages, when your plans to house your parents are denied on your rural property; as in Bill 52; the public cannot be blamed for looking for a way to strike back. When the government, when the "establishment" is not only seen but felt, to be serving their own or obscure interests over the interests of those they serve, the voter has one tool left.
The voter is never wrong, not because they choose only the best candidate, but because they collectively choose who they want to govern on their behalf.
I am under no illusion that those who vote for the non-conformist are voting for something. I believe people are voting against something they see as very bad. The very bad they see is the increasing size and influence of a non-responsive government The average voter, the silent majority, feels disenfranchised. By voting for someone not afraid to make waves, someone willing to brashly throw themselves into the thick of difficult battles with the "establishment," they are hoping to have some influence. At the very least, they are voting for someone that will make the establishment's lives as difficult as the "establishment" has made theirs.
The fact that these non-conformist leaders are generally right-of-centre is a reflection of the right's greater sense of individual freedoms. The voter is not so eager to embrace a lower standard of living, higher taxes, ever more government red-tape to satisfy nebulous concerns or "expert" advice for daily living. Therefore, entering the privacy of the ballot box, away from the lectures of the "politically-correct evangelists," the silent majority make their voice heard.
The silent majority is busy working, busy volunteering, busy raising their kids and grandkids, too busy to protest or troll online, but they do vote.
Happy New Year!
