OTTAWA – Conservative MPs were told not to post online or talk to media about competing protests on Parliament Hill that saw protesters clashing over how schools should handle LGBTQ+ issues. The...
So are the members representing the political party?
Yes, party members are quite clear that they will stand by the party above all else. A long, long, long time ago there was more leeway for party members to consider constituent perspectives, but unbridled use of the whip changed the landscape.
These days, if you are not voting for an independent, you’re guaranteed to not have representation.
I thought we were running a democratic system of government here
We are. Being able to cede control to a dictatorial power is a democratic freedom.
We are. Being able to cede control to a dictatorial power is a democratic freedom.
You mean … KNOWINGLY being able to cede control to a dictatorial power is a democratic freedom.
Coercing the public and doing things behind complicated legal and political jargon and systems that very few can understand is not an open democratic system.
Our democratic system isn’t hard to understand at all. The people meet in the ‘town square’ with the hired representative to flesh out what the locals want to see, and then the representative carries the message to the central meeting place, to meet with all of the other representatives, where the product of those town square meetings are compiled together to achieve a final result. The activity in the central meeting place is recorded so that the people back home can audit that the representative is acting in good faith with respect to what happened in the town square.
It is not hard to see when the town halls are not happening. And when that is the case, you know you’ve ceded control to a dictatorial power. There is absolutely nothing out there to make anyone think that the representatives are mind readers. If you are not talking to them, you know it is impossible for them to represent you. That’s just basic math.
Is it a problem? I expect we like it this way. Especially because it leaves us feeling like we can say “That didn’t go well and it’s all [insert arbitrary figurehead]'s fault!”
Yes, party members are quite clear that they will stand by the party above all else. A long, long, long time ago there was more leeway for party members to consider constituent perspectives, but unbridled use of the whip changed the landscape.
These days, if you are not voting for an independent, you’re guaranteed to not have representation.
We are. Being able to cede control to a dictatorial power is a democratic freedom.
This is a bullshit, false equivocation.
You mean … KNOWINGLY being able to cede control to a dictatorial power is a democratic freedom.
Coercing the public and doing things behind complicated legal and political jargon and systems that very few can understand is not an open democratic system.
Our democratic system isn’t hard to understand at all. The people meet in the ‘town square’ with the hired representative to flesh out what the locals want to see, and then the representative carries the message to the central meeting place, to meet with all of the other representatives, where the product of those town square meetings are compiled together to achieve a final result. The activity in the central meeting place is recorded so that the people back home can audit that the representative is acting in good faith with respect to what happened in the town square.
It is not hard to see when the town halls are not happening. And when that is the case, you know you’ve ceded control to a dictatorial power. There is absolutely nothing out there to make anyone think that the representatives are mind readers. If you are not talking to them, you know it is impossible for them to represent you. That’s just basic math.
Fair point and I agree … part of the problem is the apathy of the public and ignorance of the masses
Is it a problem? I expect we like it this way. Especially because it leaves us feeling like we can say “That didn’t go well and it’s all [insert arbitrary figurehead]'s fault!”