Where is the love? And respect in politics?

Being late is terribly rude. I know this because I am chronic. Shocker. People are generally very nice about it although I’m sure they curse me silently (or perhaps on Twitter). Still, late happens. Life happens. And I am not running a country. I am merely running around in small circles trying to pretend I’m being useful.

Julia Gillard was late last week. She is the Prime Minister of Australia, you may have heard of her. Shock jock and Sydney radio talkback king Alan Jones knew exactly who she was but still chose to berate her, almost shout at her, when she appeared on his radio show for an interview. Approximately 10 minutes late.

Did I mention she was the PRIME MINISTER?

Click here to listen to the astonishing audio.

That wasn’t even an interview, really. It was an admonishment. A lecture. I could have sworn he sent her to sit on the naughty step. Let’s just look at this logically. PM Gillard was not having a mani/pedi or checking her Ebay bids.  She was running the country and at the time she was doing not just one, but many press interviews.

I know we live in an egalitarian country and we like our leaders and our politicians to be fairly down to earth. One of us. The opposite of, say Gaddaffi. But have we gone too far the other way? Have we abandoned all semblance of respect for our political representatives?

What is it that makes Australians so eager to shout down our  politicians?  Economist Ross Gittins wrote a brilliant piece about this troubling phenomenon for Fairfax recently that has been republished here with full permission:

“All of us know the nation’s problems won’t be overcome without decisive leadership. We regularly bewail our politicians’ lack of courage and conviction, their reluctance to risk their personal survival in the country’s best interests.

Yet we give our leaders so little loyalty. The announcement of a government decision is taken as the occasion for the outbreak of dissent. All those with a reason for objecting cry out and their criticism is amplified by the media, whereas those who agree fall silent. No one feels obliged to actively support the leader, even if only because she is our leader and someone has to accept ultimate responsibility for deciding what we’ll do and how we’ll do it.

Of course, we each have the democratic right to oppose all government decisions by all legal means. But we also have the democratic right to support, defend or even just acquiesce to the judgment of the people we elected to lead us.

Do you agree?Is there any loyalty to the people that we have elected or do we abdicate all responsibility for our vote by attacking our leaders? With leaders SO influenced (and their careers so determined – hello goodbye Kevin Rudd) – by fickle opinion polls, what hope is there for them to be able to act on our behalf and take difficult, visionary decisions in the best interests of the country? And I refer here to both sides of politics, not just the government.