Herding Cats!

The folowing is part of a post on the Green Party Blog and in my view sums it up so eloquently that all those sheep should read it and consider which it is that they wish to be…..

“Managing a political party is a lot like herding cats. You're basically dealing with a horde of highly opinionated, independently-minded individualists each with their own ideas on how things should work and what's the best way to do things. Somehow you've got to get them all moving and working together if you're going to arrive at your intended destination: getting elected. At the same time you've got to respect the independence and free spirit of the individuals in your herd. Good party leaders have to be good cat herders.”

“The big risk is the fine line between being a cat herder and being a shepherd. Harper and Ignatieff are shepherds. They treat their party members like sheep - dumb animals with no independent will or individuality. They drive them and employ party enforcers to act as sheepdogs, nipping the heels of those who stray. The new code-phrase for this in the Conservative and Liberal folds is Party Discipline. It a phrase I quickly tired of hearing prior to my eventual flight from Iggy's sheep pen. The result of Liberal/Conservative Party Discipline, of course, is their MPs, candidates and party members lose their cat-ish ability to react quickly and think on their feet.”

I could not agree more, we need more cats and less sheep!