Lisa Hrabluk

We have been taxpayers for too long; it is time for us to become citizens again.

That was the lede in a column I wrote in February 2004 as I and John McLaughlin, president of the University of New Brunswick, went chasing after an idea; that to fix our broken public institutions – government, media and universities – we needed to empower the crowd.

Bottom up leadership rather than top down.

Our public institutions didn’t get it, but people did. They craved authenticity and failing to get it from their local governments, newspapers and radio and TV news, so went looking for it somewhere else.

It is a social and cultural movement and it is far more powerful and sustainable than anything happening right now in the political sphere.

Or at least that was true until last night.

Barack Obama is the new face from the crowd.

As Thomas Friedman wrote in his column today in the New York Times:

Obama’s campaign tapped a dormant civic idealism, a hunger among Americans to serve a cause greater than themselves, a yearning to be citizens again.

It is hardly surprising that people have used religious metaphors and imagery to describe him; faith and belief were the cornerstones of his campaign.

Faith in ourselves and belief in the greater good of our society.

Today I am envious that Americans have found what we in Canada are still searching for – a leader who can articulate the wisdom of the crowd.

Will we find leaders who inspire us, as Obama has inspired a generation of Americans?

Yes, I believe we can.