Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Flawed Jubilee

The Diamond Jubilee Medal is turning out to be an odd way to honour the Queen: a secretive, ad hoc and politicized national embarrassment. Maurice Vellacott’s nomination of anti-abortion activists Mary Wagner and Linda Gibbons has drawn a lot of criticism. But within the parameters of the program, Vellacott’s choice is defensible. As an MP, Vellacott had the opportunity to nominate a number of people and he thinks the two women have done something noble for their country, even though Wagner is currently in jail.

The problem isn’t that Vellacott thinks these women are heroes or that the medals have gone to people who’ve been charged with crimes. Many activists have sacrificed their freedom in acts of civil disobedience, and many former criminals have gone on to greatness.

The problem is that medals in the Queen’s name shouldn’t be handed out to people MPs — or professional associations, or charities, or advocacy groups — happen to like. These are supposed to be national honours, not flag pins or ballpoint pens.

Of course, many, probably most, of the recipients are highly deserving. And the Governor General vets the nominations. But the vetting process seems to be tantamount to a rubber stamp. Given what we know about the process, we could never be sure these are the 60,000 most deserving Canadians. Why did some organizations get a chance to nominate and not others? And why did they choose the individuals they did?

There’s no way, at the moment anyway, for Canadians to know the full story of who nominated whom, and why — which is strange, if these honours are meant to inspire other Canadians to similar achievements.

The notion of honouring the many, often previously unrecognized achievements of Canadians in the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee year is a fine one. But medal recipients deserve better than the sloppy way it has been executed.

Original Article
Source: ottawa citizen
Author: editorial

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