That’s Wilfrid Laurier from Quebec. He has no future. He does nothing nowadays, but sit in the library, day after day, reading books.
- A journalist commenting in 1884. Wilfrid Laurier became Prime Minister in 1896.

There are great life lessons to be gleaned by watching politicians in action or by reading political history. This should not be surprising, since politicians are recruited from our own society, and they have the same life issues as everyone else. In fact, many issues they grapple with are universal in nature and people around the world also grapple with these same issues in some form.

The foregoing quote underscores a great universal lesson. Success often flows to those with grit and determination who do not let setbacks hold them down. Laurier is just one of many politicians who languished in opposition for years, but through diligence and patience was able to eventually achieve power. Sir John A. Macdonald, Mackenzie King, Abraham Lincoln, and Winston Churchill all experienced major setbacks during their careers, although they are remembered more for their victories and successes. Dalton McGuinty is a recent example: few expected him to be successful, but through discipline, hard work and openness to advice, he was able to bounce back and achieve two back-to-back majorities.
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We live in a world of labels; conservative, liberal, gay, straight, nature, nurture… It makes us feel more secure, leads us to believe that a person or perspective can be summed up so simply. The reality is that, upon the most basic examination, most people and their perspectives are a combination of multiple factors and life is too complex to boil down to a solitary verb. How many of us have had any success describing ourselves in one word?


I am a conservative often and a feminist always and examining the issue of the polygamy trial of the Mormon leaders in Bountiful through those paradigms brings up an interesting conundrum; what matters more, the protection of women or freedom from unnecessary laws? I think it is something most of us face more frequently than we care to acknowledge; the need to reconcile seemingly competing priorities. The figuring out of what’s more important, more worthy of activism, is the price and the prize of democracy.
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