| If, as he says, he wants to get the message across to politicians that Canadians want "accountable, competent, qualified, intelligent and incorruptible leadership," Tim Hammell’s proposal to "vote no" is no solution ("Just Vote No," Letters, February 19 to February 25). It is just as useless as the facile – some might say "lazy" – approach of ignoring politics altogether and not bothering to vote in elections.
The problem with Mr. Hammell’s proposal is that he appears to think it is the politicians who must respond to his call for "accountable, competent, qualified, intelligent and incorruptible leadership" and that it is somehow the politicians’ responsibility to provide him with such an alternative when he heads to the polls.
Simply saying you don’t like what politicians do, and don’t like what the candidates that run for office have to offer, is not enough. Simply paying attention to politics for two or three weeks before the election and then going to the polls to cast your vote is not enough.
If accountable, competent, qualified, intelligent and incorruptible leaders are to be elected, ordinary citizens – like Mr. Hammell, I presume – must work to find them, work to bring them to the attention of the rest of the public, work to get them elected, and work to keep them there.
Yes, that’s a lot of work and it’s something most of us would rather someone else do. So long as we think that, and behave accordingly, we will have to put up with politicians we don’t like and candidates that offer what we don’t want. We get the government we collectively deserve, and if all we are prepared to do is "vote no" then we don’t deserve very much.
John P. Roggeveen
Calgary
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