Freedom in powerlessness

In a column the political commentator Ben Thomas said that former Cabinet Ministers making election night commentary were only enjoying “the freedom of powerlessness.”   It was a nice turn of phrase.  I enjoy Ben’s thoughtful opinion pieces on the body politic.

The flip-side to powerlessness is power.   We all exercise it every day, even if it is as hum-drum as deciding when to flick a light switch on or off.   Ministers in a Cabinet certainly have power but it is highly constrained power.  The disciplines required by the political party they belong to, the Leader of the Party, the Whips, Caucus and Coalition partners all impose massive constraints on any individual politician’s power to move a bright idea to a deliverable.

Limits also come in the amount of resources in the Budget, fierce competition to get allocated a share of those resources as well as getting a cumbersome and risk-averse public service to implement policies and do so quickly.   This includes the problem of getting contracts tendered, agreed, signed and fulfilled within budget and on time.

It’s little wonder that many politicians get to the end of their careers in office and have a sense of exasperation that they were unable to do what they really wanted to do and that the public didn’t understand just how darn hard it was to make things happen.

Thankfully though there’s already a new crop of eager beaver politicos ready to step up and keep our form of democracy running.  It’s easy to throw rocks; much harder to be willing to get fully involved in being part of the solution.

I’ve been reading Walter Isaacson’s book on Elon Musk.  It’s a fascinating account of the extent of power that can be exhibited by one individual in the private sector.  Musk is  a genius.  He has the ability to dream big ideas as well as think through to the minutest detail what is required to turn the ideas into reality.

Without him the electric car industry may not have got beyond glorified golf carts so early in the 21st century and neither would interplanetary travel become a realistic objective.

He is a tireless worker who will sleep in his factories and work the lines alongside his workers to personally sort out production blockages in real-time.  He has the power to throw huge amounts of money at problem solving.  He is utterly ruthless in people management and is an extraordinary risk taker. One of the key elements of his mantra for success is to constantly ask who made a decision on an issue, never accepting excuses that a fault lay with a group, department or entity. The flip side, is that he has many character flaws and issues in maintaining personal and collegial relationships and has experienced much emotional and mental anguish.

Musk gets things done but you wouldn’t want him in charge of the Government.  Worse than narcissism, his character is largely unstoppable when it comes to exercising power.   

Meanwhile, many of us get beyond our paid working lives to a state of enjoying the freedom of powerlessness.   But we are not really powerless. We are electors, consumers, citizens, investors, volunteers and participant in life?   With all power no matter how small comes responsibility to use it wisely….