The King is Dead, Long Live the King

 As a young man, I never grasped the full meaning of the old saying, “The King is Dead, Long Live the King”.  Now in my current stage of my life nearing 49 years of age, as an elected official I have a better appreciation for the saying and its wisdom.  The kingdom in our current context will never fall, there is always a successor, and the systems in place are designed with that fail-safe in place to ensure when the leaders change, that the provinces and the country continue to function.

Now does it matter who the proverbial King is? Well yes, the length of reign of the King, the King’s supporters, the potential successors, and the direction that the leader expects the rest of us to follow all have great importance.  We the people have a major role to play on, who our leaders ultimately are in modern-day, the problem is not many know how to exercise their rights to have a better batch of politicians to pick from at election time. There are a number of groups and would-be leaders that would take full advantage of that.  We can see that at all levels of government, federally, and provincially.  The other issue we have, is that when they become entrenched, how do we root them out?  How do we drain the swamp?

1. Become a member of a party, or several if you want
2. Participate in the party, help suggest direction, and policy that the party represents
3. Help pick nomination contestants, and vote for the one you like, or become one yourself
4. Participate in general meetings, vote on party policy
5. Engage in your community, make sure you also listen to folks in your area
6. Engage with your elected post-election, they will need your feedback
7. When the time comes around, fully participate in the Leadership Reviews

The key ingredient in all of the items noted above, to make sure our system works, is you.  If you don’t like the leaders we have, the representation you have currently, then you have to fix it.  Facebook posts, coffee shop rants, and yelling at the TV will only go so far.

An item that I want to dispel, even though political organizations, and many mainstream media outlets may want to tell you otherwise, and prey on many of the fears that they have created is that the parties are only head leader deep.  I can tell you firsthand, from the several organizations I’ve interacted with and observed over the last several years is that none of them are only one leader deep, and that if that leader is changed, falls ill, or gets hit by a bus that the party will not fall, or the other team would not necessarily win without them. A new King will be chosen; hence The King is dead, long live the King.

I have also observed in my opinion abhorrent behavior of leaders that are feeding off of fear, driving people against each other, and quite frankly character associations of our own citizens.  Governments and some of the leaders to save their own skin, have vilified people or groups, trying to turn public opinion against them.  The Sewer Rats, the Embarrassing Cousins, the Fringe Minority, and the most recent one provincially, a party being taken over by “Extremists” Pot meet Kettle.  Left and Right are using what I can only surmise as “Federal / Ottawa” spin doctoring, to keep the status quo, and to make sure that they drive behaviors of voters based on emotion only, and that emotion is fear.  We need way more Alberta in our Alberta leaders, and way less of the Ottawa style here in the Strong and Free province.

How have we come to a point in time, where such harsh words can be used on regular everyday Albertans who have quite frankly had enough of the norm, that are engaged, that are participating in the process?  Well, simply put, by the folks who have the most to lose, the ones that want to keep things going the same way, and who would want you to believe that they are indeed the King, they are indeed the ones who make the rules for you to follow, those that have forgotten that in this province, and this country the only power that they hold in office has been granted by we the people.

Get involved, vote with your heart, and mind.  Don’t let the latest spin make you forget what has taken place over the last few years, and don’t feed into the fear that there are only 2 options.  In the particular organization I am part of I can assure you there are a number of string leaders who are not “Professional Politicians” that are more than able, competent, and trustworthy that could lead if given the opportunity, or there was a need.  Perhaps it is indeed time to drain the swamp and have a made in Alberta solution to embrace the opportunities and face the challenges of the day.

Sincerely,

Shane Getson