There were a lot of reasons the U.S. presidential election turned out the way it did. Same for the B.C. election. It seems like both elections should have been a lot easier and, in the case of the U.S., had a different result.
The culprits in both cases came down to arrogance and self interest. One man’s opinion but by no means unique.
Too many U.S. voters found the Democratic candidate a bit highbrow, condescending, and that fatal epithet, elite. While saying she was a candidate and would be a president for everyone, quite a few voters didn’t believe her. They found her too polished.
Her opponent, on the other hand, was down and dirty. A fear-mongering man of the people. He spoke to the masses.
While many didn’t necessarily buy his rhetoric about immigrants being criminals and dog- and cat-eaters, there was one thing they all bought. It became his catchphrase and it resonated with voters who might have held their nose when they voted for him.
“Are you better off now than you were four years ago?”
Rather than being metaphorical, voters took it literally. Were they richer? Were they happier? Did they have more faith in the future? No, no and no.
The irony, of course, was the pain—particularly the economic pain—they felt was not the making of the focus of their anger. It wasn’t something contrived by the Democrats. It was global. It had its roots in the hangover from the pandemic, a hangover manifested in scarcity, inflation in the cost of everything, growing income inequality and limited opportunity.
Throw the bums out.
It was an election won and lost on pocketbook issues. Perception at least as much as reality.
The reality was the disruptions wrought by the pandemic were more quickly working through the U.S. economy than many other places in the world. Canada, for instance. Supply chain issues have been lessened in the U.S. far more than they have in the Great White North.
Car shopping? South of the border, no problem. Lots of cars on the lots. You can walk in and drive off with just about anything you want. Canada? Unless you’re looking for a model that’s actually manufactured in this country, and aren’t particularly fussy about the colour and trim level, you can enjoy a wait lasting anywhere from six months to well over a year.
Inflation? What inflation? The much maligned boomers remember all too well meeting with their banker and tossing the keys to their vehicle or house on the desk and saying, “All yours.” When interest rates cracked 20 per cent in the early 1980s it was a bloody Armageddon for many.
But when you’re the same age as they/we were at that time and your mortgage bounces from a laughable 1.9 per cent to 6.5 per cent or more, comparisons to a dim past are meaningless.
Both countries did a horrible job of foreseeing inflation. Once it became apparent, both countries whistled past the graveyard, assuring people it was temporary and would be short-lived. Both were slow to react. Both over-reacted. Both have now whittled inflation down to almost manageable levels.
Despite that achievement, no one feels better off now. We’re reminded how crappy things have become every time we go to the grocery store and pay six bucks a pound for mushrooms, 10 for a pound of bacon, three for a can of soup. And without the local restaurant specials, few of us would ever see the inside of a real restaurant.
Pocketbook issues bring down governments. Period.
It’s a reality I’m unsure our local elected officials have completely grasped. With well-constructed rationales, the Resort Municipality of Whistler (RMOW) is getting us ready for a property tax increase that may hit 10 per cent in 2025 and stay in the neighbourhood for the foreseeable future. How that actually plays out will depend on the mill rate eventually set by the muni and the numbers BC Assessment comes up with for the properties around town.
But the lesson of the recent elections is this: The dollars and cents don’t matter nearly as much as the optics. As reported, this might only mean $70 on a half-million-dollar Whistler Housing Authority home or $520 on a $4 million single-family chateau—and an extra pop for utility and service fees—but the actual dollars will be lost in the noise. Relevant but irrelevant.
It’s the nine or 10 per cent that’ll stick. It’s a lot easier to grasp because chances are pretty good whatever you’re making in the way of a wage or salary isn’t going up anywhere near that amount.
And it doesn’t matter about the metaphorical three big rocks. Doesn’t matter about adding to reserves. Doesn’t matter the RMOW has nothing to do with the price
of mushrooms, bacon or soup. Doesn’t
matter whether they’re being fiscally responsible or profligate.
What matters is everything they can make more expensive they’ve made more expensive, from parking to dying, in the past two years. And they seem to be doing nothing to “create” other sources of revenue that might be more palatable than increasing property taxes.
While it may sound like it, this isn’t an indictment of the mayor and council. I believe they’re doing a reasonably good job. I can’t say the same for all RMOW departments, at least not without raising their ire, but regardless, I’m okay with how they’re running the place.
But that won’t matter in two years when however many of them want to stick around are up for re-election. What will matter is whether enough of us who vote will feel better off than we were four years ago when we elected them.
That worries me. It worries me because when they were elected in 2022, it was hard to pick six I felt had a chance of doing a reasonable job. And I’m not at all sure how much better the candidates will be in 2026. But I am pretty sure the voters will be more dissatisfied with their lot in life and I won’t be surprised if that manifests itself in a throw-the-bums-out kind of sentiment. Been there; done that.
It’s a job I wouldn’t want to do. Worse, it’s a job I wouldn’t want to see a number of other people do. But that’s just the way politics seems to go these days and I foresee things getting worse—think the next federal election—before they get better.
