Letter: Good governance versus popularity

Elections and politics should be more about governance than popularity. Too many voters see politics as entertainment, and elections as popularity contests.

When I was in high school, the school introduced the concept of democratic principles by means of having an election for student government. The students would nominate various candidates by picking certain students they liked to run for office. Then they voted for their favorite candidates. The student government may have included a president, a vice president, a treasurer, etc. What inevitably happened was the most-popular students were the ones who got elected. Qualifications were secondary.

A good example of where good governance contrasts with popularity is with the Biden/Harris administration.  The Biden/Harris administration has shown what the Democrats can do, by applying good governance. Their successes are numerous. Yet Biden himself is unpopular, and too often, a large swath of the voters that support the opposing candidate often benefited from the Democratic policies.

High school elections teach the mechanics of elections, but they also demonstrate that too often elections are more about popularity than qualifications or good governance. The important lesson from student government may not have been the intended lesson. The important lesson is that elections, whether they be high school elections or national elections, are more about popularity than assessing qualifications.

Donald Selby

Peterborough