Salim Mansur on the democratic deficit

"We might remind ourselves here of Lord Acton's famous observation, "Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

Paul Martin was perhaps mindful of this quote when he spoke about the "democratic deficit" during his campaign for the Liberal leadership. In other words, he was acknowledging how centralization of power in the PMO had hollowed Parliament's role.

Lord Acton, in the same letter containing his quip on power, also wrote, "There is no worse heresy than that the office sanctifies the holder of it."

Martin, like his predecessor, has allowed himself to be corrupted by the absolute power of his office. We have seen the effect this week in his party's disregard for Parliament's expressed opinion that the government lacks the democratic mandate to remain in power. "