- cross-posted to:
- fairvote@lemmy.ca
- canada@lemmy.ca
- ndp@lemmy.ca
- cross-posted to:
- fairvote@lemmy.ca
- canada@lemmy.ca
- ndp@lemmy.ca
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/40034360
With Duverger’s Law (i.e., in non-PR electoral systems, a trend towards a two-parties), we are running out of time to act. Canada’s 2021 effective number of parties is 2.76 - this number will decrease over time, and will eventually end Canadian democracy as we know it today.
The only way to prevent this democratic backsliding is proportional representation: !fairvote@lemmy.ca
Yes, implement democracy is correct.
Look into policy lurch. Basically, a party will implement “extreme” policies because they know it will be undone in the next election. And in the case it’s not undone, it could also be problematic (e.g., chronic underfunding of public services).
I actually think LPC front-runner, Mark Carney falls into this camp - against a fairer society.
It’s difficult to nail down slimy people.
I would say we already have extremists: those that believe an electoral system that ignores votes is acceptable.
When speaking about democracy, we should start with the most ideal, then work backwards for trade-offs. A direct democracy is the most ideal. And we move to representative democracy, as it’s more practical. But the trade-off for FPTP - it’s simplicity, which no longer is worth it since we can handle more complex electoral systems. Therefore we know that PR is the solution.
At least with PR, we only have ourselves to blame in failure. With winner-take-all, an extreme minority can, and has, taken down the majority.
What’s not funny, unfortunately, is how effective the anti-PR crowd is. But we have principles and fairness on our side, and that will never become disliked.
Policy lurch is exactly what I’m thinking of. Thank you for bringing that term up.
My understanding of intelligence is likely different from others; being intelligent doesn’t mean you should be on the good side. Having a healthy foresight and knowing what should work better for more people over the long term are not qualities of intelligence; they are those of wisdom. Being intelligent just means that you know how to consume information and wield knowledge, not necessarily for good or bad. So I don’t doubt that Mark Carney is intelligent, but he certainly hasn’t shown the wisdom that Canada truly needs, only short-term goals. The latter isn’t always bad, but the world lacks wise visionaries, and Canada seems to be in dire needs of one.
I’ll be honest and say that while there’s a need to fight Trump from down South at the moment, I can’t say Carney has actually demonstrated any traits that makes me trust him. There’s his somewhat question-raising profile about whether he’ll actually be see national problems correctly to be able to do things for ordinary people, or if he’ll just be another corporate-loving minister. He’s tried to use it to distance himself from Trudeau’s government, but that seems unnecessary, especially when there seems to be plenty of ways he could make that distance clear through actually proposing solutions that are clearly different from those of Trudeau’s.
I don’t disagree with the fact that we should find that sentiment abhorrent, but that’s definitely not a classification that people would think of when we say “extremists”.
And this might be controversial to say, but there are lots of people who just don’t want to deal with whom they consider as “extremists”, and would rather have structural barriers in place to keep these voices segregated. Anti-PR people is a mix of misinformed people, actual pro-FPTP people, and those who do view it as an effective tool (though a flawed view) at keeping voices they don’t want to hear out. Cutting people may be a viable strategy for small and/or close group settings, but it’s not the way for a democratic society, and that is where I think more messaging needs to be done to make people know and weigh the benefits of a fairer society over short-term, localized social calmness. Just trying to take a hard look at reality and give my 2 cents there.
Well said.