I met a young man in an apartment building while out door-knocking. For 15 minutes, he peppered me with insightful questions. The next week, he volunteered to go out door-knocking with me and, in between houses, he asked more challenging questions. He is taking over the family business, I found out, and very cautious, almost skeptical, by nature. He asked me to what I could offer to businesses who might be willing to support me. I said, quite honestly, not what they might get by supporting a PC candidate. I won't be in government, so I can't promise lower taxes for businesses. I won't be able to offer special treatment, benefit, influence or the ear of the powers-that-be.

But I wouldn't offer those things even if I could, I said, because I don't believe in a "you-scratch-my-back, I'll-scratch-yours" form of democracy.

I told him I hope people will support me because I WON'T listen only to my donors and supporters. Instead, I will commit to listening to everyone, including the people who didn't vote for me. I will listen to business owners AND minimum wage employees. I will listen to union workers, single parents, youth, Aboriginal people, new immigrants and seniors. I will listen to the rich, the poor and the squeezed middle class. I will listen to right-wing, left-wing and no-wing.

He told me this wasn't going to sell. Business people want a sense that their investment will have some yield - a clear benefit to them.

I replied that I felt the yield is tangible but indirect. It shouldn't favour the individual, even if they happen to be a donor, supporter or member. And, I said, democracy isn't a consumeristic exchange; it's something you participate in, not something you buy. It's more about the "give" than the "give and get". 

I recognize that moving beyond the ideas of personal benefit to a more community-based or global benefit isn't everyone's cup of tea. Some throw up mental barriers, labelling it socialism or communism. They fear the loss of individual autonomy, the nanny state and group think. I get it. I'm deeply individualistic too: I don't like being told what to do and I often challenge rules that don't make sense to me. However, I am also deeply committed to the idea of community. I KNOW I would not survive without the help of family, friends and neighours. I crave community. I've built my life around the search for and preservation of community.

So, in the end, like most things, it's a matter of balance. How do you preserve the individual in the context of the community? How do you preserve the community in the context of individuals?

Oh! And a happy ending to the story: the young man and his family business are fully on board with my campaign. Somehow, my promise of No Influence, No Personal Payback, No Power.... resonated. Never underestimate the power of speaking the truth!