Politicians have to look at themselves

THURSDAY MORNING EDITORIAL — We really shouldn’t begrudge politicians a bit of togetherness with their loved ones.

Taxpayer-paid vacations for spouses of MLAs aren’t the very best use of public money but the rationale is understandable. Though we might not think much of their decisions at times, they work hard for their money.

A happy family life makes for a happy, productive MLA.

But really, as we discussed the other day, too often politicians treat themselves too well. They overdo it. We mentioned some examples of loose purse strings including B.C. Speaker Linda Reid’s new furniture and expensive renovations to her Speaker’s chair.

It was Reid who brought the spotlight back to politicians’ spending habits this week when it was revealed she took her husband with her on a trip to a conference in South Africa last year. They bought the good seats and it cost us $5,500.

Reid, like so many others, has apologized and paid it back.

However, her comments after the information came out are very telling about how some politicians think.

“It’s a practice,” she said. “What this place has always done, they tell me, is if you can get the flight for less than a business class flight, if you can get two of those, you can do that. And that’s frankly been done for 15 or 20 years, if not longer.”

Here’s what goes wrong with politicians. They go into office wanting to serve people, and pretty soon they forget why they’re there. They look inward to themselves. They start taking the perks of office for granted. It has become commonly known as “a sense of entitlement.”

What politicians in Victoria and Ottawa and every other capital across the country have to do is remind themselves on a regular basis that they aren’t special. They may be good at what they do in the political arena but the only reason they’re there is because we put them there.

It all gets back to Robert Burns: “And would some Power the small gift give us, To see ourselves as others see us!”

His next lines are less commonly remembered but just as important: “It would from many a blunder free us, And foolish notion.”

Many a politician could avoid many a blunder if only he or she would ask a simple question before acting: “What would people think if they knew?”