A word or two on "vision"

Have you noticed how all the pundits are suddenly talking about how the Canadian political parties are all lacking vision? The Current (a news show on CBC radio) just dedicated an entire segment to the issue: party leaders are dishing out piecemeal policies that lack any over-arching system of values. The producers have pulled together a panel of pundits (Judy Rebbick, Rick Salutin, the dude who just wrote Rescuing the Right), to discuss how "vision" can be brought back into the campaign.

I'm finding this issue to be historically blind. We live in a world where "grand visions" no longer act as operating systems for how we organize ourselves. Communism, Socialism, Fascism, Wahhabism, Trickle-down Economics; these are all "politics with vision", functioning to shape policies that mirror the value-systems they embody. History has shown us that these "isms" haven't worked out too well. Because "vision" is a very fluffy way of saying IDEOLOGY. And Canadian politicians (as hapless as they may seem), understand that in 2006, people are not interested in ideology. They are interested how politicians will address practical concerns like health care, taxes, education, crime, etc.