MPs worth can be judged by how frequent they speak.

A few months ago, a report was released by a parliamentary agency that showed a list of the most silent members of parliament. The undertone in articles that carried this report suggested that these members of parliament were incompetent and as one person stated, these members were nothing but “seat warmers”.

The word ‘parliament’ has its roots in a French verb parler which means “speak”. Parliament was formed to be a place where people sat down, discussed and resolved issues as it proved to be an effective way of stopping unnecessary wars. With this in mind, it only makes sense that a member of parliament’s worth can be judged by how frequent they speak.

However, at what point do we stop talking and start acting. Can we confidently say that the MP’s tagged silent are not doing anything worth mentioning back in their constituencies? As a society we have unconsciously made words such as loud, bubbly and bold synonymous with competent, while the people working silently are ignored and viewed as easily disposable; A society where the student that constantly talks gets the teachers attention and is given bonuses for their “participation.” Quite frankly, given our political history as a country I believe that what we need is less talking and more working.

On the other hand I must admit that despite our personalities we need to create a balance where the “loud” allow others to peacefully contribute while the silent go out of their way to share their ideas.