What’s behind Pierre Poilievre’s ‘common-sense crusade’?

OTTAWA—Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre wants Canada to join his common-sense crusade. It is the motto of his bid to become our next prime minister. Before we take him up on the offer, it might be helpful to find out precisely what he means by “common sense.” Unfortunately, Poilievre isn’t helpful in that respect. He has never explained how the idea of 'common sense' translates into specific policies. His only clues are his catchwords and a sampling of his voting record in the House of Commons. But that still leaves one wondering what constitutes Poilievre’s idea of common sense. One could conclude it’s just a branding gimmick. All political parties do it. The NDP uses taglines like “on your side.” The Liberals beckon “the middle class.” The intent is to simplify complex ideas into digestible slogans in order to create political ruptures. Perhaps Poilievre wants to drive a wedge and divide those of us who use common sense and those who do not. Interestingly, common sense has a long political etymology. Modern philosophers like Hanna Arendt saw common sense as a form level-headedness resulting from a dialectical process of rigorous public debate and communal discourse. In her seminal work Origins of Totalitarianism, Arendt credits the rise of Nazism and Stalinism to an inadvertent collapse of this dialectical process and with it, the loss of human capacity for reason and rationality. Unlike the Nazis and Stalinists, neocons and populists prefer not to wait for the dialectic to collapse on its own. They prefer to dismantle it with subtle stagecraft by playing up the subliminal psychology veiled within the phrase 'common sense' itself. The intent is to browbeat our sub-conscious to accept their dictates as self-evident truths. We feel stupid if we don’t. In 1995, former Ontario premier Mike Harris deployed this artifice for his electoral success. His platform, dubbed the “common sense revolution,” had no hard policy details. None were needed. It was assumed to be obvious and self-manifest. It wasn’t until much later that the voters finally realized what the revolution really stood for: a full-blown gutting of public services to finance the massive tax cuts that Harris gave to his wealthy backers. Poilievre knows that debating policy out in the open could unleash Arendt’s dialectical process. Voters could start asking questions. He could lose his political narrative. Therefore, he sticks to the assumed appeal of “common sense,” betting that if repeated often enough, ditties like “axe the tax” and “jail not bail” will slip into the public mind as undeniable facts that must be enacted toute suite without scrutiny or critical analysis. Friedrich Engels, the great German philosopher, referred to this summoning of common sense as “false consciousness.” That is, when we buy into the idea of common sense as purported by the politicians and their sponsors, we shortchange ourselves. Instead of advancing our interests like affordability and wage increases, we unwittingly hand the agency of our vote to those who in actual fact oppose our interests, usually the rich and powerful. Using the theoretical premise of Arendt and Engels, Deva Woodly, a political science professor at Brown University, explains in her 2015 book The Politics of Common Sense that relying on the machinations of common sense can indeed result in political wins, but only if the rhetoric has some resonance in exiting ethical values and contemporary norms. If not, it backfires. The voters wise up. They see through the deception. Scholars like Arendt, Engels, and Woodly can be instructive for the Poilievre campaign. As the election closes in, he should become more selective about what he incorporates into his common-sense platform. He should pick only the basics that have always resonated with Canadians: issues like healthcare, housing, take home pay, and the threat of global warming. Likewise, Poilievre should drop the divisive issues, like anti-trans hysteria. When it comes to trans kids, 69 per cent of Canadian parents will accept their child’s wish to change gender identity. This includes 61 per cent of parents that have children younger than 18 years old. These are the attitudes prevailing in Canada. It’s the same with climate change: 72 per cent of us are worried or very worried about it, more so now with record high temperatures. Politicians will do what they must to win the day. It is the day after that they should worry about, especially if their clarion calls divide and polarize. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau found that out when he labelled the anti-vaxxers who disagreed with him as a “small fringe minority.” The big majority didn’t like that characterization. To his credit, Trudeau apologized for the slip up. Poilievre is not the type to apologize. In which case, he should be careful with affixing his political cause only on common sense. Canadians will eventually catch on. All it requires is for his opponents to trigger a public debate and expose the “common-sense” battle cry for what it usually is—an ill-informed populist agenda parading itself off as policy insight. Bhagwant Sandhu is a retired director general from the federal public service. He also held executive positions with the governments of Ontario and British Columbia. The Hill Times

What’s behind Pierre Poilievre’s ‘common-sense crusade’?

Interestingly, common sense has a long political etymology.

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What’s behind Pierre Poilievre’s ‘common-sense crusade’?

Interestingly, common sense has a long political etymology.

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