Welcome to my world Dawg. This is why I don't vote anymore. And despite the efforts and good intentions of those on the Yes side, change simply isn't going to happen while party bosses tell you MMP is bad because party bosses will appoint MPs (even while signing parachute candidate and acclamation papers for their hand-picked candidates) and the media under report or erroneously report what it all means.
53% isn't low enough for anyone to care. As I said in out debate, there will not be any significant move to electoral reform until voter turn out is 40%, or 30%. That is, until we are in a crisis. You best bet is to follow Greg Bester - until there is MMP or another acceptable fair system, simply don't play in the fixed game. Don't vote in Ontario elections.
MMP will be the saviour of democracy when voter turn out is 35% and not before. Or maybe when people like Mike Duffy are in the home or dead.
If you want MMP, don't vote until you get it.
Hey Dr Dawg
Sorry that you were disappointed with the results. I wasn't in favour of MPP because it didn't really address the reasons for my disenchantment with the political process in general and voting in particular.
I think that the parties have become far too powerful as entities that are driven to win at all costs to get their hands on our money and the levers of power.
The person that you elect to represent you should do just that or at least the majority opinion in your riding.
You shouldn't have to vote for a package deal of policies that are implemented by whipping your representative under threat of expulsion. It seems like the tail is wagging the dog.
The referendum result is a real disappointment. But I think you're too easy on one of the culprits: the people of Ontario. Too many people just don't care and can't be bothered finding out why they should care. Perhaps Lenin was right: the masses, left to themselves, will never attain more than a trade-union consciousness. (Do I have that right?) Perhaps we do need a vanguard party that understands what's good for the people and will shove it down their throats. Okay, I'm being cynical. Yes, the powers that be don't want proportional representation because they fear the uneducated mob will interfere with their tidy grip on state power -- but the masses are too busy shopping at the mall to care, and anyway would rather have someone else do the boring political stuff.
How on earth did we get 57% of British Columbians in 2005 to vote for STV, a much harder-to-explain system? And that was with the same lack of education and debate as in Ontario. It may have been because in 2001 FPTP had virtually wiped the Opposition from the Legislature, and it was blindingly obvious that something had to be done. (And before that, in 1996, the Campbell Liberals got screwed by FPTP: the NDP came second in the popular vote and won a majority of seats.) But in 2005 the Opposition made a big comeback, and perhaps people now think that everything's okay and so FPTP must work after all! Also, in 2009, the beneficiaries of FPTP, worried that STV just missed hitting 60% in 2005, will bring out the big guns of misrepresentation and scare stories. One ray of hope: in 2005 the combined NDP/Green vote was 50%! If the wishy-washy NDP comes out strongly in favour of STV (and that's a very big "if"), then STV will stand a reasonable chance of carrying the day.
You guys on the Left never belived in voting anyway.
If it helps, my brother voted against MMP but says he would have voted for STV. I would have preferred STV too, but I'm still embarrassed at not being able to convince him to change his vote. Maybe we've spent too many years encouraging people to vote, it's hard to demonstrate now that their votes seldom mean anything under FPTP...
I guess we're stuck with the absolute worst system until we agree on which one is the absolute best.
I guess we're stuck with the absolute worst system until we agree on which one is the absolute best.
Well said, sir. And once again, the best is the enemy of the good.
Commenting by HaloScan
