Why do we treat our politicians like reality show contestants? Canadians should be concerned with how our prime minister governs, not how he wears a sweater vest.

Lambasting our politicians has become such a popular pastime that it may soon rival hockey as our national sport. We all have our favourite stories about the elected official who let us down. You always remember the minister who left secret papers at his girlfriend’s house, or the MLA who got a little spend crazy with his expense account, or the premier who accepted a cash payout in a brown paper bag. With each new telling, the offences get bigger and the politician gets smaller.

Of course it’s not just citizens that engage in this sport – the media is like the zamboni smoothing the ice to ensure that the conditions are ripe for the perfect game. And the political parties are in the thick of it, scrapping at centre ice, drawing penalties, and driving the power play. But in the end, all the mudslinging, name calling, and high sticking distracts us from the real game – that is, governing our country.

We have become so fixated with the foibles and intrigues of the individual personalities amongst our elected officials that we have lost an understanding of their roles. It’s as if Survivor has replaced Question Period and we’re all anxiously waiting to see who gets voted off the island.

Personally, I think politicians get a bad rap. I’ve met many over the years and they are a pretty decent lot. Actually they are more than decent; most are hard working, generous, and genuinely want to be of service to the people who elect them. Sure, some have monstrous egos, but I think it may be a condition of employment. I couldn’t image making it through even a week of campaigning without a healthy dose of self-confidence.

Don’t get me wrong, I think it is important that we have a culture that calls politicians to account, but we’ve lost a sense of what public accountability means. We’re so wrapped up in Facebook controversies and fashion faux pas that we can’t hear the substantive debates or understand the policy implications of politicians’ pronouncements.

Some of my friends tell me that the dumbing down of our political culture is all part of a Karl Rove master plan to lull us into an apathetic stupor. They suggest that if we are all consumed with the trivial, we won’t vote – paving the way for an extreme brand of conservatism to rise and displace the idle liberal democratic majority. While it makes for a good conspiracy theory, I’m not convinced.

I tend to think what ails us has been growing and festering for years and is rooted, in part, in the Trudeau era – when power was centralized in the Prime Minister’s Office, the Privy Council, the Treasury, and the Department of Finance. This was also the time that political parties changed from policy making bodies to election and fundraising machines, and Members of Parliament became less and less relevant as conduits to Canadians.

Some will argue that the Reform Party challenged this centralization of power and introduced a renewed, populist version of democratic engagement. But I don’t think that this was carried through to the transformation into the Alliance Party and then the Conservative Party. Under Stephen Harper we have seen an even greater centralization of the federal government’s power to the Prime Minister’s Office, which has rendered most of Ottawa – Conservative MPs included – rather mute.

So what does Trudeau, Harper, and the centralization of power in Ottawa have to do with Canadians’ fixation on Michael Ignatieff’s eyebrows?

When power is centralized, channels for authentic citizen engagement erode. When avenues for engagement erode, citizens unplug and become less and less connected to formal public institutions. Disconnection spawns apathy and apathy in turn creates less connection. It’s a vicious circle that eventually leads to politics as spectator sport.

And while I may have oversimplified the conditions that have brought us to our current malaise, the reality is our voting rates are at an all-time low, our young people are despondent, and our political party membership rates are abysmal.

So given the state of our democracy, why not call in the gladiators and cat-call from the coliseum bleachers. What better way to spend our evenings than to pass judgements on Belinda Stronach’s new hair colour or Stephen Harper’s new sweater.

But there already is a Hockey Night in Canada, and at least with our official national sport we still have a sense of who the teams are and what the game’s about.