Walking the Political Line: Accountability and Collaboration

You've got a way to keep me on your side

You give me cause for love that I can't hide

For you I know I'd even try to turn the tide

Because you're mine, I walk the line

These are the two stories that most grabbed my attention today:

Andrew Coyne on Political Delusion:

This is a point that eludes many people in politics.  When a campaign fails, their first instinct (beyond blaming the public) is to "reposition" themselves - not to find a better way to persuade people to their point of view, but to find a new point of view.

Don Lenihan on Collaboration Soup:

The big lesson for policymakers is that, when issues reach a critical level of complexity, traditional consultation is not the answer.  The policy process requires public deliberation.  As we found in the condo process, this about far more than weighing the evidence.  It involves making trade-offs, setting priorities and balancing values.

Why?  Because together, they hint at the failings of politics-as-usual and point to a better way of doing things.

By it's nature, politics is a selfish business.  Politicians want you to support them so that they can win and, once in power, do stuff.  Political Parties want you to donate to them because without your support, they can't beat the other guys.

Note the trend?  It's not about you; it's not even about the why that supposedly drives them, as that changes with the tides.  It's about them.  When it's always about you, the world breaks down into three categories - people who can support you, people who will oppose you and those that don't matter. That, in a nutshell, is how politics-as-usual is framed.  Collaboration isn't the goal; no particular end-game is in mind.  Consultations are about determining which category people fall into, not seeking common ground.

When it becomes about winning, not achieving, you've lost.  Whatever direction you once had becomes obscured.  The lessons to be learned from failure are only realized through the acceptance of personal failings - when you're about individual brand competition, though, you don't want to admit weakness as it means you're not as competitive as someone else.

If you sets your sights higher, though - it you have a clear mission that you're willing to put before all else, including your own brand - then it becomes less about not appearing weak and more about growing stronger.  Failure isn't an injury to be feared but an opportunity to be harnessed.  Instead of convincing people to put all their eggs in one basket - you - the motivation instead becomes articulating with passion and inspiration the destination that is your vision and empowering them to join on the adventure.

There are some leaders taking tentative steps down this path leading to a new kind of politics; it's a risky business, though, with the temptation always lurking to stop beating a new path and instead, resorting to the tricks of old.

Having said that, the landscape has changed - as politicians and operatives across the country are realizing, the old ways don't work anymore.  They will stumble, they will fall, but eventually they'll end up where the son is leading them.

Personally, I think that's super.