Gordon Campbell - Ideologue?

Having a firmly held world view based on one's Ideology is like travelling
through life and the world around you wearing a set of blinders. It narrows
your vision down to tunnel vision, denying one a full and true view of the real
world existing around you.

It is this narrowness of vision that can result in the ideologue being taken by
surprise by things such as homeless and addiction issues, a mistake-prone child
protection system, the B.C. Lotteries scandal. It can lead to a management
style where the Ideologye keeps the reins firmly in his hands because he is the
keeper of THE VISION. At some point you begin to lose valuable people because
of this interferrence. You also lose some of your best people because your
Ideology blinds you to issues they see as important.

Labour Minister Olga Ilich's unhappiness manifested itself in her confirmation
that she wouldn't be seeking re-election. Finance Minister Carole Taylor is
also leaving, with reports saying she's grown tired of Campbell's managing style
and his refusal to see and deal with social issues of concern to her.

I read with interest a piece by Keith Baldrey about Campbell and recent events
which included his evaluation that Campbell is "... incredibly well-versed
in all sorts of issues, and can talk knowledgeably about everything from
forestry to health care and climate change." Undoubtably Mr. Campbell
would agree with this statement - as would many others.

Therein lies a major problem, perhaps the major problem, with and for Campbell
and his Liberals. An Ideologue is well-versed and knowledgable within the
framework of his Ideology. If the reality of the causes and solutions of issues
lies outside his ideology, an ideologue will find causes/explainations that fit
within his world view. The problem is that solutions based on addressing the
wrong causatity factors cannot suceed in bringing about the outcomes needed to
address the issues. This is particularily true in many of the social issues
because at their root lies people, giving rise to very chaotic
cause/effect/solutions conditions.

I see the results of this clash between BC Liberal Ideology and reality daily -
increasing numbers of homeless that include seniors and families; increasingly
unaffordable housing; wage levels that even at full time, people cannot live
on; increases in those sufferring mental illness and addiction ending up
homeless and on our streets; poverty etc. Social problems that do not lend
themselves, or the methods for addressing them, to ANY ideology. These types of
issues have to be addressed based on the way they are, their reality, not upon
how we want them to be.

Mr. Baldrey may be correct that their " ...continual lead in popularity
has allowed the Liberals to retain a lofty air of arrogance..." I am not
totally agreement with his conclusion that this lead " ....has prevented
them from realizing a pattern of problems may be developing."

Undoubtably popularitity, success and arrogance can/will cause one to miss
developing problems. However it seems to me that many of the developing and
growing problems that face the BC government are growing in the blind spots
caused by Campbell's and the Liberal Party's Ideological blinders.

One can only hope that if Campbell and the Liberals begin to worry about
re-election, it may give those in the party with a wider, non-ridgid worldview
an opportunity to cause Campbell and collegues to remove their
Ideological blinders