August 1, 2024
70% of People Think Government is Broken
Recent polling from Ipsos discovered that 70% of people believe that Canada is broken. The poll revealed the real frustration Canadians are feeling towards their country, explaining that people do not really believe their country is broken, but rather that its institutions aren’t working.
Feelings of pessimism about the country were highest among survey participants aged between 18 to 34; 78% who believed that the country needed to be fixed. (1)
The pessimism is well founded. Canada’s government institutions, in fact all democratic government institutions at all levels of government including the USA and the UK, aren’t working.
Governments owe an unprecedented $91 trillion, an amount almost equal to the size of the global economy. Debt burdens have grown so large that they now pose a growing threat to living standards even in rich economies, including the United States.
Yet, in a year of elections around the world, politicians are largely ignoring the problem. In some cases, they’re even making promises that could at the very least jack up inflation again and could even trigger a new financial crisis.
Many well-respected economists point out that tackling the debt problem will require either tax hikes or cuts to benefits, such as social security and health insurance programs. “Many (politicians) are not willing to talk about the hard choices that are going to need to be made. These are very serious decisions… and they could be very consequential for people’s lives.”(2)
Almost everyone continues to ignore what the above poll and young people are saying. Out of control debt is the evidence – government institutions that have not changed in a long time are broken.
I have worked for governments of all political persuasion. I have never had an issue with public policy decisions because public policy represents the will of the people in a democracy.
A simple majority of 51% allows any government the ability to establish public policy. If a vehicle only worked 51% of the time, would anyone be satisfied? Replace the word vehicle with any of the top 10 current concerns of people including issues such as higher taxes, health care, education, the economy/unemployment or social inequality and you will find a common thread – the administration of government.
The current administration of government are systems that have not changed in a very long time. The “51% solutions” remain because they address what is now a “what’s in it for me mentality” that allows politicians to remain “in power”, that allow the size of bureaucracies to grow essentially unimpeded and that allow specific interest groups and business to protect their interests without regard to what is the best for society as a whole.
Government regulations are mainly developed to control the actions of its citizens. The regulations are implemented by rules, including those in added policies and programs, that are created and which people must follow – there is no choice.
This means, for every person, time and effort must be taken to comply with all rules and a person will also pay more to government so that it can administer the rules.
In everyday life, a business would never create a control unless the benefit from having the control exceeded the cost of the control. There is no comparable accountability test in government.
Simple math suggests 49% of the population, to some degree, will not voluntarily accept and comply with a government’s chosen direction (and as a result its rules). This requires government to spend more money on education, government administration and enforcement – factors that inflate government administration and reduce the amount of revenue collected to be allocated for the benefit of the people.
Governments are not willing to talk about hard choices because they do not quantify the benefits or costs of decisions fearing they will be held accountable. The unprecedented level of debt is proof, the administration of democratic government is not following the basic business axiom – benefits must exceed costs if all people are to improve their standard of living.
What if the administration of government were to accept nothing more than what they continually require the people to accept – mandatory compliance of the rules? Best practices in regulatory governance are rules our leaders signed off on in 1961, but have yet to follow.
By following the rules, government would become more effective and efficient. Imagine for every dollar saved, 33% went towards smaller government and lower taxes, 33% went towards additional government programming and 34% went to reduce the overwhelming amount of debt. Tell me, who loses?
The hard choices pointed to by economists are not the only solutions. The largely ignored improvement of government administration would significantly help to improve the lives of all people.
I want to apologize to the 18-34 generation. While your generation is the main reason I authored Diagnosis Red Tape – A Fading Trust in the Administration of Government, to provide guidance and to educate; I missed the importance of social media to transmit my thoughts to a younger generation.
The pessimism is well-founded and leaders would be well advised not to ignore the message.
Today is Blog 1. I will continue to blog to educate and inform and I welcome all comments and encourage everyone to share this message.
- https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/world/canadians-are-really-unhappy-with-their-broken-country/ss-BB1pcEwq?ocid=BingNewsSerp
- https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/02/economy/global-debt-crisis/index.html