Oct 08 2008
‘Majority Governments Incompatible With Democracy’
As stated I wanted to follow up briefly on exactly why I think democracy’s are incompatible with majority governments. As so today I want to issue a question to my readers on the topic of majority governments justifiability.
Here’s what I think generally first: Mature voters acknowledge that no party has all the answers, and the only way to acquire results that fairly represent a nation of different ideals is through discussion by different parties in an environment which ensures they will be taken into consideration. A majority stifles this ability.
Today I had the opportunity to discuss this concept with a friend. We agreed with somethings and developed the following question:
How is a majority government justifiable in a democratic country, when in essence through parliamentary process and the standard unified fronts of political parties inadvertently the minority’s power of government will be stifled? Does this not create a winner/loser mentality of politics which is incompatible with our intrinsic values within a democratic nation?
An example of this follows; party A has a 65% majority while party B has a 35%. When matters of interest are brought to the deemed acceptable house of debate and a vote is taken, due to the unified nature of political parties, party A will always get their way. In such a manner party B is alienated from its political power in the manner in which it is simply not able to create change, and as such the 35% of Canadian voters that were represented by this party are alienated with it.
As a Canadian voter or even a external viewer on the Canadian system, what do you think about this?
3 Responses to “‘Majority Governments Incompatible With Democracy’”
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This is one of my bigger problems with the current American system. I don’t really have a problem with majority rule, but when “majority” means the “majority party” and not “majority of the people”, it causes problems. Also with this win-lose mentality some voters will stick by their party just to be on the “winning side”, and you get people who vote for their party regardless out of “loyalty” instead of because of the issues. The other problem with the American system (and possibly the Canadian one) is that the population is too large to effectively use majority rule, since even the “minority” is a massive amount of people. The country is too large and full of varying interests across geographic regions to effectively govern as a unified system. I don’t want to fill this with a rant about how the system should be changed though =P. Anyway though, partisan politics is problematic in itself, because it seems to encourage the same type of “team voting”, where all (or most) members of a party vote in the exact same manner. Why vote for individual representatives at all, if it’s just going to be one side or the other?
The main problem with parties, in my opinion, is that a lot of important issues become subordinate to issues whose adherents scream louder. Whatever’s top on the list or appears to be top in people’s minds will get the most time, and other stuff, just as important but less advertised? What other stuff? There is other stuff? And don’t get me started on what that means for people whose pet issue is only properly addressed by someone on the “other” side…