I’ve been musing about David Suzuki’s campaign some more…. If I were leader of a major nation, I think I’d be overwhelmed by all the input from every imaginable camp, not to mention the politics of decision-making and the drift toward ‘governance by poll’. I don’t think there is a centralized institution in the world capable of taking on all the items that need to be addressed in the timeframes that are necessary if anything will make a difference. The only viable strategy I see for addressing the myriad problems confronting us as a society is the same strategy corporations have found is central to their viability: specifically, to inspire and empower people to declare their personal responsibility for the issues they care about and then take on projects and initiatives to do something about them. In other words, we can’t wait for ‘them’ to do it for us.

Most of my ‘list of horribles’ won’t be solved within national borders; therefore, if I were Prime Minister, I would commit significant resources to supporting the David Suzukis in the country and to creating mechanisms for citizen-driven initiatives. This idea is similar to the FIRST president Bush’s 1000 Points of Light campaign. Although it lost steam and became just another example of political hype, it was and is a good idea if our leaders can put long-term goals and democratic ideals above short-term political gains.

As Prime Minister, I would pray for the courage and strength to be a transformational leader and statesman first and a political leader second. Then I would attempt to integrate the political decision-making processes with the bureaucrats responsible for their implementation. I’d work at empowering the people of the Public Service to be effective implementers of policy.

Finally, I’d challenge the public right down to the community level to stand up and take action, to be responsible for their government and take on citizen leadership where possible. I would give particular attention to the more mature members of my nation and suggest that it is time to take charge of our families, our communities and our world and to create the future through personal accountability and action. Today’s threats to our future are no less ominous than those we faced in WWII. Historically, we have witnessed a good portion of the world pulling together against fascism and similar threats and prevailing.

Evil prevails not because of the actions and agendas of evil people, but because of the inaction and apathy of good people.