April 18, 2025
Politics offers yesterday’s answers to today’s questions.
Marshall McLuhan (1911–1980), Canadian philosopher and media theorist, quoted by Robert Fleming in Who Was Marshall McLuhan? (1994), Barrington Nevitt and Maurice McLuhan, eds., in Famous Lasting Words: Great Canadian Quotations, John Robert Colombo, ed. (Vancouver: 2000) p.415
Can you think of an example of a persistent problem (one older than yesterday) that would best be addressed by an entirely new, as-yet-untested approach (an answer for today)? No rush! Take the rest of the day to consider your response.
McLuhan’s comment is off-base on a number of counts. Firstly, it assumes that politicians (those who practice the politics he speaks of) are generators of answers, which further assumes that those capable of producing answers (academics and non-academic experts in a particular field, etc.) will be drawn to the political life, and most, if not all, are not. Secondly, and accounting for that is the generally low repute in which politicians are held, a situation due in part to comments such as McLuhan’s, which diminish any interest a genuine answer-producer might have in pursuing a political career. Thirdly, while suggestions for solving any number of problems may be forthcoming from many quarters, it is the politicians who must turn good suggestions into legislation acceptable to a majority of colleagues. And that, of course, is the really tough part, because… Fourthly, most people—including politicians—want to keep whatever jobs they have, which accounts for what you see with so many politicians—that wet index finger (testing the direction in which the wind is blowing). Besides a set of “one-term wonders” is of as little value to the body politic as the annual firing of all entry-level hires would be to any business enterprise. All of which militates against going out on a limb, and endorsing some fresh, untried and hence unproven, solution to some problem or another. That is not an excuse for politicians, only a defence against their being given the bulk of the blame. Though former Canadian astronaut Marc Garneau did become a member of Parliament and, indeed, Minister of Transport (go figure!) from 2015 to 2021.
