Deferred sincerity
The way the British Chancellor of the Exchequer has been pillared recently for stating that Britain was facing the worst economic downturn in 60 years shows how so many people prefer not to face reality when the consequences are too unpleasant. The...
The way the British Chancellor of the Exchequer has been pillared recently for stating that Britain was facing the worst economic downturn in 60 years shows how so many people prefer not to face reality when the consequences are too unpleasant. The comment, which would have been applauded had it been made by a renowned economist, was labelled as a "gaffe" and "talking down the economy" by the British media and will probably cost Alistair Darling his job.
When the going gets tough we ask for pain killers rather than the energy-giving vitamins that could see us overcome the challenges ahead of us. Deferred sincerity has indeed become a useful weapon in the armoury for many politicians who, not surprisingly, are popular with certain sections of the electorate. Anyone who dares state the facts as they are will be accused of scaremongering. Then when reality starts to take over, the experts in deferred sincerity will tell us how they could not foresee recent events that have made their original assessments look very silly.
They fend off possible accusations of misleading us by stating that they had no crystal ball to predict the future. If fingers start to point at them for misleading us, they will dig out some watered down comment they would have made about the gravity of a particular issue. They are experts in euphemism and deferred sincerity.
Deferred sincerity has some bitter consequences. In economic life, like in many other spheres of life, the sooner a problem is identified, dissected, and solutions prescribed to overcome it, the better it will be for all those likely to be affected by such a problem. We seem to accept this common sense method to resolving physical health problems, but shy away from adopting this approach when facing economic problems.
The result of this is that such problems do not simply go away but rather gain in intensity and become increasingly difficult to resolve.
We are always able to find many more reasons for not taking drastic remedial action than reasons to do so. No one likes to become unpopular by prescribing bitter, but life saving, medicine and most will therefore procrastinate and resort to palliatives that will simply hide the problem.
But the countries that will succeed to come out of these difficult economic times first, will be those whose political leaders dispense with deferred sincerity and take the country into their trust by spelling out the gravity of the problems that need to be addressed and prescribing the right solutions. Of course, there will always be the risk of an ungrateful electorate killing the messenger of the truth with its vote. But leading is about telling the truth as it is, and as often as is needed.
We must not shy away from the real issues that are affecting our economic performance if we are to have a sound basis for significant growth in the next decade. The effectiveness of our health and educational system are, for instance, issues that in my opinion are not really being scrutinised publicly enough to ensure that any reforms needed are clearly defined to all those who will be affected by such reforms.
There are, of course, other social issues that go beyond the economic sphere, ranging from the effects of illegal immigration to the continued prohibition of divorce, that will have an impact on how our society will function in the coming years. We may be a small country no bigger than a small European town, but we are also a nation that must address the real issues that affect the lives of our citizens.
We must rise above the petty debates which are more characteristic of village politics, and address the real issues that make a difference in people's lives.
Increasingly people are becoming frustrated at some of our political leaders' propensity to cater for the preferences of those who want to be sheltered from the real issues that need to be addressed. Cold electoral calculations by certain politicians may promote the use of even more deferred sincerity to win political points from traditional quarters.
But this attitude will increasingly alienate those who are already deeply disillusioned with politicians who believe that the electorate needs to be protected from the truth and told one thing today, and another thing tomorrow.
When the going gets tough we ask for pain killers rather than the energy-giving vitamins that could see us overcome the challenges ahead of us. Deferred sincerity has indeed become a useful weapon in the armoury for many politicians who, not surprisingly, are popular with certain sections of the electorate. Anyone who dares state the facts as they are will be accused of scaremongering. Then when reality starts to take over, the experts in deferred sincerity will tell us how they could not foresee recent events that have made their original assessments look very silly.
They fend off possible accusations of misleading us by stating that they had no crystal ball to predict the future. If fingers start to point at them for misleading us, they will dig out some watered down comment they would have made about the gravity of a particular issue. They are experts in euphemism and deferred sincerity.
Deferred sincerity has some bitter consequences. In economic life, like in many other spheres of life, the sooner a problem is identified, dissected, and solutions prescribed to overcome it, the better it will be for all those likely to be affected by such a problem. We seem to accept this common sense method to resolving physical health problems, but shy away from adopting this approach when facing economic problems.
The result of this is that such problems do not simply go away but rather gain in intensity and become increasingly difficult to resolve.
We are always able to find many more reasons for not taking drastic remedial action than reasons to do so. No one likes to become unpopular by prescribing bitter, but life saving, medicine and most will therefore procrastinate and resort to palliatives that will simply hide the problem.
But the countries that will succeed to come out of these difficult economic times first, will be those whose political leaders dispense with deferred sincerity and take the country into their trust by spelling out the gravity of the problems that need to be addressed and prescribing the right solutions. Of course, there will always be the risk of an ungrateful electorate killing the messenger of the truth with its vote. But leading is about telling the truth as it is, and as often as is needed.
We must not shy away from the real issues that are affecting our economic performance if we are to have a sound basis for significant growth in the next decade. The effectiveness of our health and educational system are, for instance, issues that in my opinion are not really being scrutinised publicly enough to ensure that any reforms needed are clearly defined to all those who will be affected by such reforms.
There are, of course, other social issues that go beyond the economic sphere, ranging from the effects of illegal immigration to the continued prohibition of divorce, that will have an impact on how our society will function in the coming years. We may be a small country no bigger than a small European town, but we are also a nation that must address the real issues that affect the lives of our citizens.
We must rise above the petty debates which are more characteristic of village politics, and address the real issues that make a difference in people's lives.
Increasingly people are becoming frustrated at some of our political leaders' propensity to cater for the preferences of those who want to be sheltered from the real issues that need to be addressed. Cold electoral calculations by certain politicians may promote the use of even more deferred sincerity to win political points from traditional quarters.
But this attitude will increasingly alienate those who are already deeply disillusioned with politicians who believe that the electorate needs to be protected from the truth and told one thing today, and another thing tomorrow.