Political harmony against the odds

Kudos to the former Manitoba MLAs who are working to bring decorum and a sense of shared responsibility back to the province’s legislature at a time of virulent divisiveness, the unconstrained will to “one-up” others and the desire to “get even.”

However disturbing and disgusting, impoliteness is not the most serious issue threatening democracies. By my reading, political extremism should be our concern and should be named and addressed openly whenever opportunities arise.

Manitoba, in my lifetime, has always been a politically conservative province. That’s conservative, not Conservative, because the two are not always compatible.

By conservative I mean a comfortable “middle of the road” province — while we see shifts and challenges from time to time, we largely experience a balance between so-called right and left ideologies.

If a political party veers too far from the middle, like our last Conservative government, we un-elect them. I like to think we try to conserve and protect our values of empathy, inclusion and equality as much as possible.

We can always find things wrong with our politicians and their decisions, and it is our job as citizens to hold them to account.

But I fear our disenchantment with governments too often lead us to embrace excessive libertarianism, fanatical religious fundamentalism and dangerous citizen apathy. And while these three trends are fundamentally at odds they have come together in our Southern neighbours in scary ways.

Libertarianism, in the name of individual freedom, emphasizes less government regulation (interference), free markets, private property and personal choice. Inherent is a profound mistrust of state authority and its bureaucracies. Ironically, it expects governments to protect individual rights and privileges without the use of force.

At its extreme, it denies the legitimacy of rule of law or its enforcement mechanisms to override personal interests.

The current American government embraces libertarianism in its extreme, to the points of ignoring the laws, international and domestic, and promoting an isolationist and predatory stance toward the rest of the world.

The consequences are rising food insecurity, soaring health costs, mounting environmental degradation and increasing attacks on public education and DEI initiatives — the indifference to the plight of the less advantaged is astounding.

And we are not unaffected by their appeal to extreme individualism and exclusiveness.

Canadian images of extreme libertarianism include the so-called Freedom Convoy, the Coutts border standoff, COVID regulation violators, anti-vaxxers and, more recently, the Alberta government’s repeatedly invoking the notwithstanding clause and proposing a referendum on separation from the rest of Canada.

The charge in each case is government overreach.

Fundamentalist religions also seem to hold an appeal for many, with their absolutist premises and promises as answers to human concerns backed by literal interpretations of religious texts.

Unlike strict libertarians, they show little hesitation about forcing their views on others, either via political means or through violence or threats of same. It’s freedom of speech and religion for them, but not for those who differ.

Human rights, particularly individual ones, have no claim to their consciences. They invoke their own notions of the will of whatever God they claim to serve, a God who in the U.S. incidentally favours white men in control from the state to the home.

In the name of Christian nationalism, immigrants, people of colour, women and gender diverse citizens continue to lose their protections and safeguards — either through arbitrary force or intimidation.

For example, schools are ordered to display the Ten Commandments in all classrooms, remove all books with references to civil rights, alternative lifestyles and evolution theory — in fact, any matter which challenges the current fundamentalist religious perspective.

Schools, teachers and school boards (meaning the indoctrination of the young) have become the main targets of religious zealots. There is no hesitation to use coercion and sanctions to achieve compliance.

Another threat is a growing citizen alienation from, and disillusionment with, democratic governments and the mechanisms of democracy itself.

Fewer people are voting in elections at all levels, independent media have disappeared at an alarming rate, all matters public are under attack and political parties are hard pressed to be inclusive, instead promoting divisive partisanship and its private, exclusive agendas.

When these three developments come together to wreak havoc on human solidarity as in “we’re all in this together” and “we all have some responsibility to bring empathy, harmony and equilibrium to our communities and the world beyond,” the consequences can be devastating.

If you embrace libertarianism, there must be some existential reason for your being alive at the same time as those around you than realization of your own whims.

If you embrace religion, there must be some other reason than oppressing others for God’s having placed you on this Earth at the same time as people who have different beliefs.

If you’re a democratic citizen, you’re in the minority on Earth who have at least some say in matters politic, no matter how small they may seem.

Manitoba tends to walk the line as in Aristotle’s Golden Mean in politics — of moderation and balance between extremes tempered by practical wisdom (responsible prudence).

We can accept libertarian’s call to take full responsibility for our own actions, religion’s call to embrace that mystical “larger than ourselves” which includes all peoples and a democratic citizen’s role to engage and participate whenever possible.

Manitoba strong!

John R. Wiens is dean emeritus at the faculty of education, University of Manitoba.