proportional representation

[Ralph Janke]

Also, regarding proportional representation (fairvote.ca).

Without giving preference to any voting system, let me describe
some of the issues that I have encountered growing up, and
being very familiar with a democracy based on proportional
representation.

One of the big myths of proportional voting is that votes count more.
I am not sure if that is really the case. Yes, votes count more equally,
but voters give up certain powers of their votes for this.

In a proportional system, parties have even more power than they
have in direct-representational systems. This reflects itself in
far less rebel votes in such parliaments. The reason is the fact,
that the party leaders have the power to place the candidates in
a particular order on the party list. This means, voters cannot
vote any candidate out, if the candidate is high on the party list.

Due to this fact, the MPs there are far more interested in the politics
for the party than the needs of their particular constituencies. All
politics is geared towards the parties, even in the lowest levels like
city councils. The candidates are replaceable, they don't matter.

I have sometimes asked people if they even know who represents them
in the various levels of councils/parliaments, and usually people only know
the PM/premier, maybe the mayor, sometimes one or two ministers. Nobody
ever knows any of the other people.

Secondly, the outcomes is pretty much the same. What I mean be this is, that
instead of parties, you have coalition blocks which fight against each 
other. It
is always the left block against the right block. We never had a minority
government (which I find a very democratic form of government, since it
really separates the powers). The small parties in a coalition have some 
form
of influence, but it is more like the different wings of a party.

Furthermore, look at the results. In Europe, most countries have 
proportional
representation (except of UK, and maybe Ireland). The issues we are 
talking about
are not solved any better than in Canada. In fact, the EU was 
instrumental in
pushing the Canadian Government to pass a bill like C-32.

In my opinion, any voting system has problems. Most of the time the system
is misused by the parties and politicians for their own purposes. 
Unfortunately,
we are not talking about changing democracy in a way that it really enhances
the influence of individuals, like for instance semi-representational 
democratic
systems, but just fall into the trap of political blocks trying to pull 
something over
the other block.

I would rather like to see a setting, where parliament has only part of 
the votes
for a bill. Lets say for the beginning, 70%, the other 30% are direct 
votes by
the citizens. Since allows MPs being a buffer to stop overly populous 
nonsense,
but due to narrow majority, or minority governments, the populae has always
the swing vote. I would find that far more exciting than just changing 
the way
votes are counted but leaving all the power with the same boring 
politicians
anyway.

Just a thought, sorry for the OT :D

Ralph

On 06/24/2010 06:18 PM, Darcy Casselman wrote:
>> The Pirate Party's great, but we'll need to engage the other parties
>> if we want any hope of getting a bill that's in any way acceptable.
>> It's easy for the major parties to marginalize the concerns of minor
>> parties who have no hope of getting a member elected.
>>
>> (If you like the Pirate Party, you probably want to support these guys
>> too: http://www.fairvote.ca/)
>>
>> Darcy.
>>
>> On Thu, Jun 24, 2010 at 5:21 PM, Ralph Janke<txwikinger at ubuntu.com>   wrote:
>>
>>      
>>> Well... several people on this list are members :) Maybe the pirate party
>>> should be mentions towards
>>> the MPs. Then they have something to think about.
>>>
>>> On 06/24/2010 05:02 PM, Mark Ueki Mina wrote:
>>>
>>> I'm located in the peterborough electoral district.
>>>
>>> And don't mention the pirate party, please... My friend is becoming a
>>> member...
>>>
>>>
>>> ________________________________
>>> Date: Thu, 24 Jun 2010 16:37:45 -0400
>>> Subject: Re: RE: The new copyright law.
>>> From: russellmcormond at gmail.com
>>> To: ubuntu-ca at lists.ubuntu.com
>>>
>>> Talking to your MP is a great way to move forward. If you need support,
>>> contact us at http://BillC32.ca
>>> What riding are you in? We have some past notes for some riding meetings
>>> already.
>>> --
>>> Sent from my Google Nexus One
>>> http://flora.ca
>>>
>>>
>>> On Jun 24, 2010 10:25 AM, "Mark Ueki Mina"<themarker0 at hotmail.com>   wrote:
>>>
>>> Thank you all for your responses, going to see my MP anyways about another
>>> somewhat discriminatory thing, i hope i don't find another issue, other wise
>>> i'm gonna look like a whiner. lol.
>>>
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>>> ubuntu-ca at lists.ubuntu.com
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>>>
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>>>        
>>
>>      
>
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