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Here's one election that shouldn't be fought on platforms and policies.

It should be fought on much more fundamental issues that lie at the heart of any government.

These include openness and honesty, of course, but also tolerance of differences and the willingness to heal divisions in society. There's the issue, too, of how much we expect our governments to consult with us, of how much they should be run by a single strong leader, how doctrinaire they should be, and how willing to change direction in the face of public demand.

And then there's the question of standards: What kind of conduct, ethics, deportment, should we demand, what levels of honesty, what tolerance for dishonesty or "cutting corners".

There are many important political struggles going on right now. We need answers to education, to housing, to greater economic fairness, to environmental issues... the list goes on and on.

But they have been overwhelmed, since the Bermuda Housing Corporation scandal broke before the last election, by concerns over how our Government, our Cabinet Ministers and our Members of Parliament conduct themselves.

Indeed, it is the failure of the Government to deal with these concerns - its reluctance to take disciplinary action against its own members, or introduce any measures to counter corruption whether real or imagined - that has allowed this to happen.

The focus that the public and the media have put on this issue is entirely justified.

For if a Government cannot get fundamental "good government" issues sorted out, it cannot be trusted to perform well for the citizens in everything else.

Contracts awarded through favouritism or ministerial intervention instead of solid and impartial assessment, for example, will almost always produce inferior results.

No nepotism

Politicians offering appointments to friends or supporters are, almost by definition, not choosing the best person for the job.

Whenever citizens go to the polls and elect a Government, they are handing over a vast amount of power and responsibility.

This requires a huge amount of trust and confidence - especially in a system like ours with little in the way of public involvement between elections.

We have no system of referendums or recalls. Even in Parliament itself, there is no system of wide public consultation - no open committee hearings like there is in the U.S. Congress, for example, or even meaningful roles for backbenchers.

Besides, any Government has untold number of unexpected problems and crises to deal with, which cannot be accurately predicted at election time.

Once we leave the voting booth, the people we've elected are pretty much on their own. So they need to be people we can trust to do the right thing, and look after our interests instead of their own.

That is why we need to focus on the fundamentals - the openness and the honesty, the tolerance and willingness to heal divisions.

If we can get these things right, almost all the other things will certainly fall into place.

Without these fundamentals, though, any Government will be left to struggle and bluster and muddle, and let its people down.[[In-content Ad]]

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