There’s a lot of people.
A lot of people to feed, a lot of people to accept and share rules, a lot of people who want a lot of different things.
We’re not like ants or bees, which are designed to live in large groups with all the workers accepting the queen as big boss lady - never unionizing, never attempting a coup.
Yep, ants and bees are pretty good at living together in large societies.
And their societies are smaller than our own.
A quick glance over the past century tells us humans aren’t. Look back a bit farther, say 2,000 years, and you’ll notice that it’s only recently that most people have lived in large complicated societies. Over the past 40,000 years, when scientists tell us we last went through our last significant genetic change, the majority of humanity has only lived in big societies for a few hundred years.
But we’ve been learning.
Our ability to live together doesn’t come from our genetic code, as in ants and bees, but from our history. It’s a history bathed in blood. Blood on the beaches of Normandy and the fields of Beaumont-Hamel, from Pol Pot’s Cambodia to Stalin’s purges, from ancient Rome to Confederation Building’s recent spending scandal.
What have we learned?
That complex societies have to be governed by the people.
Otherwise there will be war.
We’ve also learned that we have to be watchful at every turn for decay - if our democracy dies it won’t be from a coup but rather death by a thousand cuts.
How do we stay vigilant?
By demanding that our government be accountable for all its decisions.
By demanding those decisions are made under the light of public opinion.
Which brings us to Jerome Kennedy.
The Northern Pen is not here to take an opinion on where the air ambulance should be stationed - we’re in the discussion business not the plane flying one. We’re here to host a discussion between the Northern Peninsula, Southern Labrador, the North Shore of Quebec and the world that affects us.
We’re here to be a forum for discussion on how better to manage our communities and our fishery.
The provincial government is a big part of that discussion and is better for being subject to our criticisms. We know we harp on government a bit much, but it’s for the greater good.
So when health minister Jerome Kennedy moves a vital service and throws an 11 page report at us that didn’t consult anyone who runs the service, we’d like him to answer a few questions about his decision making process.
We demand that he be accountable to the people.
For three months he has refused each media request and his department has delayed our Access to Information Requests beyond the statuatory limit.
This is no longer about the air ambulance - which is unlikely to be moved back to St. Anthony - it’s about a crack in the walls which protect our democracy. Those walls aren’t made of stone, but of a constitution which protects the rights of citizens from harassment, voting booths, a free press and a government accountable to the rules and customs we make for it.
Those walls protect us from chaos - allow us to get and spend, live and love in relative comfort.
The crack in our walls is a small one, but cracks always spread.
If one government minister learns he can make a decision and plug his ears to the question of those he’s taken from, another will do the same. Then another and another, because it seems easier.
And each time they will trample the graves of those who died defending the gates of our society.
All we want is a phone call.
