"Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard."
H. L. Mencken
Canadians got it Bad and Soft the other day. Our Federal Election is over and Three Hundred-Frickin-Million Dollar$ later, our Parliament looks pretty much the same as it did.
Meh.
A paltry 59% 0f the 24 Million eligible voters managed to drag their sorry carcass to the polls. That means that almost half (41%) of the Population DID NOT VOTE!
The Right of Centre and never wrong Party, the Conservatives, ended up with 143 seats (up 19) @ 37.6% of the vote and will form another Minority Government.
Oh Joy, Oh Rapture.
The lacklustre Liberals managed to attain 76 seats (down 27) @ 26.2%
The traitorous Quebec Blocheads stole 50 seats (lost 1) @ 10%
The slightly Left of Left NDP now have 37 seats (gained 8) @18.2%
There will be 2 'Independent' malcontents (up 1) @ .05%
And the Enronmentaly challenging Greens didn't get any seats, even though almost one million ballots were cast in their favour (6.8% of the Popular Vote).
Our system is fercockt.
This archaic first-past-the-post plurality system SUCKS!
Had we upgraded to a PROPORTIONAL form of REPRESENTATION, where one vote, YOUR VOTE, actually matters and everybody is counted, Parliament would have looked like this;
Conservatives would have got 116 seats not 143,
Liberals 81 not 76,
NDP 57 not 37,
Traitorous Bloc 30 not 50,
and the Greens would have 23 seats!,
the Malcontents, the proverbial 'Others', would have to fight over the last musical chair.
A much more defined and equitable snapshot of our political landscape EH?
Someone summed it up quite simply, "In a room of 10 Canadians; 4 would be Tories, 3 Liberals, 2 NDPers and 1 Bloc supporter".
Someday, if the LEFT OF CENTRE wonks could ever get their 'Peeps' to join forces and quit splintering the moderate progressive vote, the Never Wrong-Always Right, Conservatives would be an exiled minority until the End Of Days!
I am a Member of FAIR VOTE CANADA and sincerely hope that Proportional Representation can become a reality..hopefully by the time my 7 year old turns 18.
The UK, USA, and INDIA need to re-screw their heads too.
Plurality Schmurality.
We need to either fix our political process,
or beg Her Majesty to mercifully reinstate our Colonial status...
at her leisure
(goes without saying eh?)
..perhaps Tuesday next?
...after TEA?
*Stands to attention then curtseys*
ReplyDeleteWe haven't got it (proportional representation) either.
You can have her majesty and her family. They're a tad expensive to run. We'd like to borrow them back for state occasions and the tourist trade though. Maybe we could timeshare? She's getting on a bit and might feel the cold, so make sure you've got plenty of winter woollies for her.
ReplyDeleteshe does a very nice line in crowns though
ReplyDeleteMAJORITY RULE
ReplyDeleteHis party was the Brotherhood of Brothers,
and there were more of them than of the others.
That is, they constituted that minority
which formed the greater part of the majority.
Within the party, he was of the faction
that was supported by the greater fraction.
And in each group, within each group, he sought
the group that could command the most support.
The final group had finally elected
a triumvirate whom they all respected.
Now, of these three, two had final word,
because the two could overrule the third.
One of these two was relatively weak,
so one alone stood at the final peak.
He was: THE GREATER NUMBER of the pair
which formed the most part of the three that were
elected by the most of those whose boast
it was to represent the most of the most
of most of most of the entire state --
or of the most of it at any rate.
He never gave himself a moment's slumber
but sought the welfare of the greater number.
And all people, everywhere they went,
knew to their cost exactly what it meant
to be dictated to by the majority.
But that meant nothing, -- they were the minority.
I didn't write this I copied it!
Actually I copied and pasted it.
Good though init?
A Danish bloke writ it - Piet Hein.
Just one of my heroes.
oookay...i tink alot of my braincells jst committed suicide on hearing politics. :)
ReplyDeletei think we can do away with politics...fer good...maybe...just...
Well, y'all ready have Her Royal Majesty's pic on your money; plus one of y'all married her oldest grandkid...so, y'all got a good shot at getting back in Her Royal Majesty's good graces.
ReplyDeleteAnd, heaven forbid, if there be a few 'unfortunate' accidents in the short line of succession, one of y'all could end up on the throne!
And we can't even get ONE third party candidate to garner an ounce of respect in this country.
ReplyDelete"Her Majesty's a pretty nice gal, but she doesn't have a lot to say."
ReplyDeleteI copied and pasted that...not mine. Nope.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWhoops, wrong link (that was the old blog).
ReplyDeleteAnd it it can happen to you guys, it can happen to us. God help us all.
I don't think 'God' wants to get his hands dirty with all this political crap, if he indeed exists, but that's something else altogether.
ReplyDeleteBut, yeah, we are all pretty much screwed....
I hate politics.
Yeah i hate politics too, and unfortunately i have to work with them (eek!).
ReplyDeleteI agree, it seems to be the most fair system -from the voters' point of view- but it can be murder if the options are too many.
We have it over here (Spain) and the political landscape is multicolour and very varied. You could make your own political party if you wanted, but finally it's a bit messy and the 'big ones' -the regulars, same as usual- are always the winners.
((Oh, btw, i saw you included the copyright thing, Another good sign to scare Angeliki people is the Copyscape sign -you can check if ou're being plagiarized there and download the html code:
www.copyscape.com))
And no, i didnt copy it!
Sorry, I meant proportional representation -forgot to write that!- lol
ReplyDeleteBlame it all on the Brits.
ReplyDeleteThe Tories are here for a good time, not a long time. I think the political alignment works as it stands.
The Tories are right, the Liberals are in the middle, the NDP are on the left.
All that's happened is the Tories have moved closer to the left, the Grits are leaderless and the NDP have moved farther left based on their principles and to keep their distance from the Tories.
I'm running for the Rhino Party next election. They're way above the fray.
Isn't Liz still beautiful :::sighs::: people get the government they deserve.
ReplyDeleteKAZ
ReplyDeleteThe odds of ever receiving such a common sense approach is certainly NOT in our favour. All hell would break loose if some sort of Democracy ever kicked in.
LLEWTRAH
Lord knows we could use a boost in the Tourism department. The Japanese are quite interested in becoming prey items for errant Grizzlies out on the verdant golf courses of Banff but that's about it.
I think that it would only be fair to borrow HRH since we sacrifice hundreds of Black Bears every year in order to construct those hats for those Palace Guards.
ZIGGI!!!
My Word what a spectacular reply!
Piet Hein has masterfully captured the very essence of 'the troubles' with procuring a realistic approach to governing the ungovernable..both here and abroad.
I am humbled that you would share this delightful poem with me.
XXX OOO
GHOSTY
Now now young man. I realise that your current political system is a tad archaic but thanks to the Interwebs the cry for Freedom will continue to spread across the globe..much to the chagrin of the political systems designed to stop it.
Change is on it's way.
EROSWINGS
I, for one, would gladly take my turn on the throne.
True, we did just marry-off a Commoner to get a foot in the door, but that could take years and the untimely deaths of about 16 Royals to get down to her.
Atleast our Northern Peso has some colour! Merkin money is soooo pedestrian. It's a wonder that anyone would want it?
THE MICHAEL
ReplyDeleteHopefully McCain & Caribou Barbie will only get one 'THIRD' of the vote!
Actually I still miss Ross Perot..he was awesome!
MJLIKI
Did you say coffee and pasties?
CITIZEN MONDO
It's going to be a squeaker..it shouldn't be..but so many Merkins don't geddit. Hey look, Dubya was elected TWICE..TWICE!
I still can't believe that. TWICE!
PONYGIRL
We don't use the 'H' word because it might hurt someone's feeling. From now on you do not prefer politics.
OK?
LENI
Your point is well taken. I can see that the bastards would find a way to get back in power and do whatever it takes to stay there.
The whole point of getting elected is to STAY elected.
People are so jaded now that it has become a cakewalk for the wonks to design programs that will allow them to do whatever they want by distracting us with some stupid sideshow. Maybe we do deserve it.
WEINERHEAD
You will do no such thing..I will be the RHINO candidate! The Tories have not centred their policy they have simply taken advantage of all the Left Of Centre vote that is splintered beyond repair...
I'm surprised that haven't invited vote spoiler par excellence Ralph Nader to come up and start another party on the Left?
OLD KNUDSEN
She is darling! She reminds me of my dear Grandmama..
whose middle name was Elizabeth AND she was German too!
I still don't understand how the Bloc can run in a federal election. If that party was eliminated, then maybe this minority government situation would cease to be an issue.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, Tuesday isn't good for me. A couple of doctors and a team of nurses may be yanking my babies out of my belly that day. Eeeks!
ReplyDeleteDonn, does Canadian political campaigning get as ugly as American ones? When I say ugly I don't mean lots of debate, but rather lots of lying and spinning.
ReplyDelete