An IN-SIGHTS reader reminded me of the work of Robert Michels, a sociologist best known for creating the Iron Law of Oligarchy:
All complex organizations—regardless of how democratic they start—inevitably develop into oligarchies, where power is concentrated in the hands of a few elite leaders. It asserts that bureaucratic, technical, and psychological factors force power to centralize, making true democratic control unsustainable.
British professor Hugo Drochon wrote about Michels’ work. Excerpts:
Michels viewed the mass as generally immobile and passive, in need of a leader to guide them and towards whom they felt gratitude. Indeed, throughout his book, Michels tried to show how the masses, even when organised within a party, were apathetic about the running of their own affairs – committees set-up to organise the day-to-day running of the party were systematically unattended – nor indeed, to Michels’ surprise, did they seem particularly interested in debating the finer points of revolutionary praxeology, preferring instead to go listen to their heroes speak.
In other words, every efficient organisation needs a hierarchical – and permanent – bureaucracy with a division of labour and a chain of command. This is both a technical – to ensure the smooth running of the party through a process of delegation – and a tactical necessity – democracy is too slow a decision-making process to react to political events.
It is that bureaucracy that will form the ruling oligarchy, such that the end result is that there is an inverse proportion between the size of an organisation and democracy: the larger and more complex an organisation is, the less democratic it will be: “where organisation is stronger, we find that there is a lesser degree of applied democracy”…
The second reason for the iron law of oligarchy: “oligarchy derives from the psychological transformations which the leading personalities in the parties undergo in the course of their lives”. What Michels meant by this is that the growing professionalisation of the party/labour union leads to the creation of a distinct class of bureaucrats, leaders and politicians who are separated from the rest of the party members they represent.
The party officials henceforth no longer belong to the same class as their former colleagues they claim to represent, meaning their interests will differ. Most importantly, their loyalties will no longer be directly with their past comrades, but now lie with the party itself, which provides them with a living… As such for them the survival of the party will always come first, over and above any demands from the regular members of the party, whether economic or ideological…
It does not take much effort to identify examples of the personalities described by Drochon.
After forming government in 2017, John Horgan’s BC NDP quickly set aside key principles it had long espoused. Maintaining power came first. Horgan appeared to envy the BC Liberals’ 16-year run in office and moved decisively toward the Campbell–Clark business friendly model.
Under David Eby, that instinct has continued. The government has shown it will override policies advanced by its own members when they conflict with executive priorities. Internal debate exists — until it becomes inconvenient.
Nowhere is this clearer than in housing policy. British Columbia faces a severe affordability crisis, yet the government quietly suspended its multi-billion-dollar Community Housing Fund — once billed as a cornerstone of its strategy to address homelessness and non-market housing shortages. The suspension was not highlighted, defended, or even clearly acknowledged in the most recent budget. Local governments and non-profit housing providers were left blindsided. Some proponents may be carrying significant sunk costs with no clear path forward.
And the party membership? There was no meaningful dissent. But when leadership tightly controls convention agendas, filters policy resolutions, and discourages accountability, silence cannot be mistaken for consent. A membership denied real leverage cannot easily demand accountabiity.
This is unfortunate, since H.G. Galloway of Temple University wrote:
The tendency toward oligarchy may be countered by organization and political forms conductive to democratic accountability of leadership. This includes the avoidance of what may be called the “star” (or celebrity) styles of leadership.
Categories: Accountability
in-sights.ca 
Is there an Iron Law of Panic?
MAGA patriots and NRA enthusiasts will just love this!
https://www.rawstory.com/karoline-leavitts-stunning-admission-on-trump-war-plans-sends-shockwaves-unbelievable/
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt sparked a frenzy on Sunday after making a startling admission as to President Donald Trump’s plans for the ongoing U.S.-Israel military siege on Iran.
“Mothers out there are worried that we’re going to have a draft, that they’re going to see their sons and daughters get involved in this,” said Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo, speaking with Leavitt Sunday. “What do you want to say about the president’s plans for troops on the ground? As we know, it’s been largely an air campaign up until now.”
In a stunning admission, Leavitt told Bartiromo that mandatory conscription – not seen since the Vietnam War – had not been ruled out by her boss.
“It has been, and it will continue to be, and President Trump wisely does not remove options off of the table,” Leavitt said.
“I know a lot of politicians like to do that quickly, but the president, as commander in chief, wants to continue to assess the success of this military operation. It’s not part of the current plan right now, but the president, again, wisely keeps his options on the table.”
Leavitt’s remarks sent immediate shockwaves among critics, many of whom took her comments as a sign that conscription was imminent.
“Karoline Leavitt refuses to rule out INITIATING A DRAFT to send Americans to fight in Iran!” wrote the progressive political activism organization Call to Activism Sunday in a social media post on X to their more than 1.2 million followers. “Translation: they won’t even promise your kids aren’t next.”
Mats Nilsson, a geopolitical commentator and author, suggested that a draft would tank the Republican Party’s future political prospects even further, with the GOP already on track for a difficult uphill battle in the upcoming midterm elections.
“Karoline Leavitt refusing to rule out a Draft,” Nilsson wrote Sunday in a social media post on X. “Once the Congressman’s and Ivy League parent’s children get drafted it’ll be a whole other ballgame.”
And X user “AnatolijUkraine,” a purported Ukrainian-born political commentator, bluntly called Leavitt’s admission “unbelievable.”
“They may not be saying the word ‘draft’ out loud, but when they refuse to rule out sending Americans into Iran and keep insisting every option stays on the table, the message is clear enough: your kids are part of the gamble now,” they wrote Sunday in a social media post on X.
========================================================================
Not that anything could go very wrong but… why take chances?
https://www.rawstory.com/iran-war/
Top Trump officials rush to purchase nuclear war-proof bunkers after Iran attack: report
Since President Donald Trump’s unprecedented attack on Iran last week, at least two top Trump administration officials have raced to purchase their own survival shelters designed to withstand an apocalyptic nuclear war scenario, The Telegraph reported on Sunday.
The revelation comes from Texas resident Ron Hubbard, who owns Atlas, a company that manufactures survival bunkers designed to withstand “biological [or] nuclear fallout, EMP attacks” and other catastrophic scenarios. Hubbard spoke with The Telegraph and revealed that since the U.S. attack on Iran, inquiries had gone up “tenfold,” including inquiries from two senior Trump administration Cabinet members.
“One of them texted me yesterday, asking me: ‘When will my bunker be ready?’” Hubbard told The Telegraph, referring to one of the officials.
The Trump administration’s attack on Iran has sparked fears it could ignite a broader regional conflict. Some critics warned the escalation could even lead to the United States reinstating mandatory conscription for the first time since the Vietnam War, something White House Press
Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Sunday that Trump has not ruled out as a possibility.
News outlets have also increased their coverage of the possibility of an all-out nuclear war erupting in the wake of the U.S. attack on Iran; The New York Post published a report Sunday on which foods might help protect against radiation exposure, and AOL.com recently published its list of the “10 safest countries to survive nuclear war amid WW3 fears.”
Amid those fears, business has been booming for Hubbard, who also told The Telegraph that his recent clients were almost all “Christian, conservative CEOs,” which included “several of the wealthiest men on the planet,” though he declined to identify them.
The revelation of top Trump administration officials racing to purchase survival bunkers raised alarm even among conservatives, including Andrew Day, senior editor at The American Conservative.
“Why are senior Trump officials urgently ordering Armageddon-proof bunkers for themselves since the war in Iran began?” Day wrote Sunday in a social media post on X.
LikeLike
Some facts.
Denmark’s healthcare system employs around 26,200 physicians, which translates to 4.38 doctors per 1,000 residents. A figure above the EU average of 4.12 and well above the global average of 1.71 physicians per 1,000 people.
As of December 2025, there are approximately 2,094 doctors practicing in British Columbia.
5.68 million – BC population
6.02 million – Denmark population
$329.2 billion GDP – BC
$459.6 billion GDP – Denmark
According to Health Minister Josie Osborne’s accounting hospital beds cost $12.8 million. Each?
Therefore 7 incomplete but existing projects critical to current need must be halted and left as is until the minister can imagine how to get her numbers down. Odd though. These projects weren’t a problem when proposed and not a problem until the recent budget. Equally strange? Lavish sports extravaganzas never seem to go begging for BC’s taxpayer money.
Could we be doing something wrong? Are our priorities skewed?
https://thetyee.ca/News/2026/02/20/BC-Halts-Construction-Seven-Long-Term-Care-Facilities/
“$1.8 million a bed simply isn’t sustainable. It’s time to step back, look at that and come up with new approaches,” Osborne said at a press conference Thursday morning.
British Columbia is pausing construction on seven long-term care facilities as it searches for a way to reduce building costs.
The pause was announced as B.C. released its annual budget on Tuesday. During question period on Wednesday, Health Minister Josie Osborne said construction was being stopped while the province searched for ways to build the beds for less than $1.8 million each, which is what it currently costs.
The province needs to build out a continuum of care, invest in innovative new approaches and at the same time be building long-term care facilities, B.C. Seniors Advocate Dan Levitt told The Tyee.
He said the province calculates it will need to build an additional 16,000 beds by 2036 to meet the demands of an aging demographic. Over the next decade an additional 400,000 people will turn 65, “so we’re going to need more seniors care regardless of if it’s at home, in the community or in a care home,” Levitt said.
B.C. is “not even close to where it should be” when it comes to available long-term care beds, he added.
Over the past five years B.C. has built about five per cent more long-term care beds, bringing its total to around 30,000 across the province. But at the same time there was a 19 per cent increase in seniors, he said.
Levitt said that today B.C. is short about 2,000 beds. Over the next five years that will grow to 7,000 beds short.
“This is only going to get worse unless we build the infrastructure needed,” he said.
On Thursday, The Tyee asked Osborne how the province would ease the strain on hospitals if it was pausing building the long-term care beds needed to reduce that strain.
Osborne responded that B.C. will continue to build out the long-term care system, including assisted living, and programs like long-term care at home. The province will also do “everything we can to prevent seniors from having to enter that type of care in the first place,” she said.
There’s “work that’s being undertaken for different and more innovative approaches to delivering long-term care,” she said. “We see a growing population of seniors. We know that it’s coming and we know that we have to be ready, and that’s why we’re taking the steps that we are.”
B.C. could do a lot more to support seniors living at home longer, Levitt said.
“Budget 2026 is not age-friendly,” he said. “This is not a senior’s budget.”
Levitt is worried that a combination of long-term care projects being deferred, property taxes being more expensive and the provincial sales tax being added to cable TV, landlines and yarn will have an outsized impact on seniors.
Many seniors live on a fixed or low income, he said, with a little under half of all seniors living on about $30,000 a year. When that’s your income, paying $9,000 for a year’s worth of home care is unaffordable, he said.
============================================================================
The EU provides 4.12 doctors/1000. But not BC?
BC: why always too little? Always too late?
LikeLike
Another Provincial Budget not at all well-received?
With a supermajority to back up his government Nova Scotia’s Premier Tim Houston delivered a budget. His experts insisted there was no choice but to make Tough Choices and chop a lot of dead wood. It would restore public confidence.
It did not.
Budget process “should have been more human,” Houston says.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/tim-houston-budget-cuts-grant-funding-restored-9.7121998
‘We got it wrong’: N.S. government reverses course on some budget cuts after outcry
Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston announced Tuesday he is pulling back from some budget cuts announced two weeks ago.
At a news conference Tuesday morning, he said supports and programming for people with disabilities, seniors and African Nova Scotian and Indigenous students will remain intact.
Those changes will restore $53.6 million from the $130 million in cuts announced during the budget, which prompted protests outside the legislature.
Houston told reporters that since the budget is still being reviewed in the legislature, the government has the opportunity to make adjustments.
“Nova Scotians have spoken clearly. Many people told us that they were worried about certain parts of the budget,” he said.
“On some of the decisions, we got it wrong. And for that I am sorry,” Houston said.
The budget, which came down on Feb. 23, tackles a $1.2-billion deficit and includes cuts to the civil service and the broader public sector.
On Tuesday, Houston said although the $53.6 million in restored programs will increase the deficit, “it’s a risk that we are taking in order to protect some of our most vulnerable.”
LikeLike
I’ve forgotten.
Who in their right mind would shift public sector nurses into the privatized sector at greater cost to the healthcare system and thus do more damage than good to the public sector?
A bit miffed, The Tyee wants to know.
https://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2026/03/06/BC-Should-End-Costly-Deals-Private-Health-Staffing/
BC Should End Costly Deals with Private Health Staffing Agencies
Growing use of the contractors has pushed up costs and hurt morale.
The B.C. government’s budget missed a huge opportunity to commit to phasing out costly for-profit staffing agencies in health care.
Hospitals and regional health authority services make up about 70 per cent of the health budget, followed by physician services and BC PharmaCare.
Although the health-care budget has received healthy annual increases over the last decade, this budget fails to maintain existing service levels.
This budget brings “hidden austerity” to B.C.’s health-care system. Although the government increases health-care spending in absolute terms, this hides spending cuts in real terms.
Regional services, including hospitals and community services, will see only a teeny 0.7 per cent increase in this fiscal year and 2.5 per cent in 2026-27 — far below what is needed to maintain service levels and account for inflation, population growth and aging. An increase of five to six per cent is required to maintain existing service levels.
But at the same time that the B.C. budget brings real spending cuts to health care, the government has no concrete plan to phase out waste in the system.
For-profit staffing agencies were intended to provide temporary staffing relief, but have become widespread in B.C.’s health system in order to address vacancies and staffing shortages.
Despite the claims from the usual austerity-minded commentators that the sky is falling and spending needs to be slashed, B.C. has a revenue problem, not an expense problem. The province is a low-tax jurisdiction, with natural resource revenues as a share of GDP lower today than in 1999.
The province also has the second-lowest provincial income tax rate for the highest-income earners.
(Why is “socialist” BC the second lowest tax jurisdiction? Anybody figured that out?)
LikeLike