When Trailer Park Boys first came out in 2001, I wouldn’t watch it. It seemed to me that this TV series was just a gimmick to use cuss words to boost ratings. It was maybe in the fourth season when I didn’t immediately change the channel, and I forced myself to watch one episode to see what all the hype was about. That’s I figured out that this is a story about real people — who many of us would prefer to stay away from. We could learn something. The cussing became a minor part of the story.
Julian, Rickey, and Bubbles are three residents in Sunnyvale Trailor Park, somewhere in Nova Scotia. They are “losers” in terms of mainstream societal thinking. They are addicted to alcohol and marijuana. They can’t hold on to a job. They engage in petty crime to make ends meet. At the end of each season, they end up in prison, only to be released at the start of the next season. They always have plans of going straight, but they cannot find the muster to go in that direction.
At first, I was looking at the Trailer Park Boys as: “Thank God, I’m not like them.” Yes, this TV series does give many of us a feeling of superiority.
One of my more memorable episodes had a local church that extended hospitality to people less fortunate than the church members. So they invited Julian, Rickey, and Bubbles to a Christmas service followed by a Christmas dinner. Rickey showed up drunk and disrupted the service. Police were called to remove the boys from the church.
All I could think of was that as much as we want to help the trailer park boys, they cannot be helped. Julian, Rickey, and Bubbles just can’t fit anywhere normal. Where do they really go? Who will accept them?
In the end, these losers only have each other. And humans need other humans. Trailer Park Boys shows that the down-and-out of society are special in their own way. And that is the magic of this show.
Although just a story, I have to commend the church for reaching out to the trailer park boys. There have been many real-life attempts from well meaning groups to move people forward in life. But most of these efforts fail. What should society do in the meantime?
Certainly, the trailer park boys should not be invited to church functions. Despite having religious teachings of kindness, acceptance, and generosity, churches also have certain standards of behavior to create the environment they so need to create. It’s hard to let disruptive people into our civil groups.
Trailer Park Boys and The TDG
A few years back, I read a book by Allen Milne Lees about improving democracy. One of his solutions is the removal of universal voter suffrage. His reasoning is that a significant majority of citizens really do not understand the issues well enough to vote wisely yet the political parties cater to this significant majority. Mr. Lees is making a good point here.
I’m pretty sure the trailer park boys would be the first citizens to lose their voting right under Mr. Lees’ system. And probably the rest of Sunnyvale Trailer Park.
But my thinking is that taking away the right to vote would further disenfranchise these people from normal society. There is something about having the right to vote — even if that right is not used or not used wisely — that kind of keeps western democracy together.
What if we could use Julian’s, Rickey’s, and Bubbles’s votes more wisely?
My alternative democracy — Tiered Democratic Governance (TDG) — would let them cast a wise vote.
Instead of casting their vote towards some political party or candidate who seems to promise them something for free, the TDG would educate the trailer park boys to vote for someone in their community who has good character and capacity for governance.
Their community would be the Sunnyvale Trailer Park. It would constitute a geographical area where residents can get to know each other — and comprise about 200 residents. This is the size I have recommended for TDG neighborhoods.
Watching many episodes of this TV series, I would say that Sunnyvale has a short supply of people with “good character and capacity.” But some residents will be better than others — and the magic of the TDG elections would find one of these better people. Even Rickey could figure out one of the better residents for the job — and cast a vote in that direction.
After the representative is elected, Julian, Rickey, and Bubbles could complain to that representative about government. That person would not have much power other than to say: “I’ll pass your concerns higher up, and we’ll see where they go.” If enough Sunnyvale residents have the same complaint and other trailer parks are thinking the same way, their concerns are more likely to be addressed in this TDG than any of our usual electoral processes.
Julian is the leader of the trailer park boys. He is often pulling Rickey and Bubbles and a few other accomplices out of tight spots when their antics go to far. Julian is also a natural community leader of Sunnyvale Trailer Park. He has some civility in his approach to life. He sometimes can get disputing residents to talk things out rather than using their fists. It’s not hard to imagine that Julian might become the TDG neighborhood representative of Sunnyvale.
Just think about that! Julian has a warped sense of reality. He is poor. He is an alcoholic. He is engaged in petty crime. He has a criminal record. Yet he is given a position in governance. I can see Julian in meetings with other representatives of nearby TDG neighborhoods. Despite his obvious flaws, the other representatives would give Julian respect because Julian’s neighbors elected Julian.
Being included in civil discussions of affairs of the community could change Julian’s outlook on life. And then he would be a better influence for Rickey, Bubbles and the rest of Sunnyvale. All this benefit for allowing Julian — an obvious loser in our minds — to serve as a local TDG representative. A parachute candidate, with much more capacity for governance than Julian, will never have this kind of effect on Sunnyvale.
Julian may serve in this position for one year or for many years. We need only let the TDG elections work their magic. However, I don’t see him advancing higher in the TDG until he does straighten out some of his bad ways.
So here is the choice we can give Julian, Rickey, Bubbles, and the rest of Sunnyvale Trailer Park:
1. They can vote for a political party and its parachute candidate who unlikely won't do much for them.
2. They can vote for a wiser neighbor to handle affairs of governance for them.
Which kind of vote makes more sense for the trailer park boys?
Published on Medium 2022
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