Get Off The Bench!
There is a palpable level of frustration among the members of the Liberal Party right now. I hear it in every conversation I have with my politically active friends. Even the non-Liberals can see that we aren’t what we used to be or even what we claimed to be a month ago.
Canadians think we’ve lost our way as a party. It’s right there in the election results, if you don’t believe me. From what I hear, right or wrong, Liberals are disorganized, deaf, and destructive. Our policies don’t match our actions and dissenting voices have either been shushed or moved out of the party all together. We refuse to face up to the outcomes we’ve created and evaluate ourselves with the same keen eye we use to evaluate others.
With all the frustrations out there, the same questions seem to be asked over and over. What should we do? How do we rebuild? After a month of the same conversations, I have pretty much one answer, lame or otherwise.
Get off the bench!
Get out of your own head. Stop asking yourself what’s wrong and get involved in the process. Especially if you are a political operative! Take some time to listen to the ocean.
I have some suggestions:
- Host a meeting of like-minded folks and have a discussion about Liberal shortcomings and things we can do better. Be the record keeper.
- Volunteer in your community or to a higher purpose. Do it because you are a good person, not because you want to troll for votes.
- Make a list of groups in your riding that you feel are respected and ask yourself what they have done to earn respect. Try to apply that logic to the Liberal Party and tell us what improvements we can make.
- Become an activist for a specific cause and put the full force of your talent into it.
We have time before the next election to take a hard look in the mirror. But the work starts today by linking together people that share liberal values or are at least open to them.
A lot of what passes for depression these days is nothing more than a body saying that it needs work. -Geoffrey Norman
