I am sitting in the shade under one of the apple trees in my garden reading one of Sweden’s daily newspapers. The world championship in football is now over so the papers can’t seem to find much to write about, except of course the upcoming parliamentary elections this fall. Fortunately for the general public there has popped up a juicy sex scandal with one of the ministers who has been forced to jump ship right before the election. Otherwise I think this election and its total lack of issues would be the biggest sleeping pill of the decade.
The TV debate between the leaders of the two main parties was comical. Debate in this case is probably not the right expression since they agree on all the key issues. The height of their “debate” was about who came up with an idea first before the other party stole it. It was sad and funny seeing them try to say the same thing in different ways so that the viewers would think that they actually had different points of view and that the other party would lead the country to a catastrophe. When all was said and done not even the expert commentators could explain how the parties differed significantly on the issues. ( I have always been amazed that “expert commentators” can spend an hour telling you what a politician just said in 30 minutes.)
In the end the Swedish people will have to go to the polls and decide who will lead the country for the next mandate period based on who they think can best execute the plans that all the parties agree upon not who has the best ideas. Maybe that isn’t so bad but I can’t help worrying that with everyone in such agreement we might be missing something. Leading a country in times like these requires diversity of thought and real debate. Many of the challenges facing not only Sweden but the world are so complicated that they should tax the facilities of our brightest and best.
Where is the opposition when politicians agree on all the important issues? Who is representing alternative thoughts and ideas? What professional politician wants to represent marginalized ideas and issues that go against the mainstream?
Politicians want power and power comes from winning elections. From the very beginning of the great experiment known as democracy, politicians have understood that they must be closely aligned with the sentiments of the majority of the people if they want to stay in power. Hordes of PR agencies and research organizations using modern methods for measuring public opinion keep politicians and political parties on track. Politicians are continuously updated on what can be said and done that will appeal to as many as possible? This inevitably leads to a harmonization of the parties towards the center of the mainstream of public thought. Any party that ventures too far from the mainstream will be punished at the polls! In the end, democracy is a terrible system. The only thing worse than people trying to lead themselves is letting somebody else do it!
