Don't be afraid to Govern!

A note to all current and future politicians....don't be afraid to do your job once elected...govern!

It seems that some politicians have forgotten that when the public elects them, that means the majority have decided that we trust them to run the office they have been elected to, for at least 4 years.

So when you get the majority of the votes to be premier, we have decide that we want to hire you to run our province for the next four years. If you do a good job, and no one better comes along before the next election, we will hire you for another 4 years. We, as voting citizens, have not asked to run the province, as we feel we do not have the knowledge or experience to do so, or the time, so we hired you for the job you asked to have.

So don't feel you have to ask us before making decisions. If you look at the books and determine that the best thing for the province is to raise taxes, then go raise taxes. Tell us why it made sense to you to do it, and we will judge at the end of the 4 years whether we agree. Remember, sometimes the best thing for us is not the thing we want. My kids never want to eat their vegetables, but I still make them do it. I sometimes really want to have a new car, but that doesn't mean I should remortgage my house and go buy one.

The most respected politicians are always ones who govern with confidence. They are intelligent people who consult with experts, look at all sides of the issue, and then go and make the best decision they can. They do what they think is right regardless of public opinion. They make unpopular decisions, but they make intelligent, well informed decisions, and at the end of the day, they are judged on the intelligence of the decision, not the popularity of the decisions. Winston Churchill, Margaret Thatcher, JFK, Pierre Trudeau, Abraham Lincoln and even Frank McKenna, all made unpopular but necessary decisions in their tenures, but all are remembered as people who did what they thought best and their citizens benefited from it, and eventually thanked them for it.

Now don't take this to mean that you should go make decisions without consulting anyone. By all means, talk to experts and use their knowledge in your decision making process. When considering raising taxes, talk to economists and other government financial experts and make sure they agree that this is the only way to responsibly govern the finances of your jurisdiction.

If your 4 years run out and you haven't done anything but ask us what you should do, you are not likely to get hired on for another 4 years. Make an informed and intelligent decision, and stand by it, for good or bad.
If you ask us what to do, then do what we tell you, and things go badly; we will blame you anyway...you can't put it back on us, that doesn't work. We hired you, so you are responsible, good or bad.

Don't be afraid to do what we hired you to do.