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Glorified Ape said:I take from the first part that you're in favour of serious senate reform. As I said before, I can understand the points, I'm just not sure it's really necessary. The "elites" problem you're describing is an effect of political parties themselves, not so much a lack of popular consultation, imo.
My second point was addressed towards "elites" and the lameness of politics when it is relegated to Party bi-lines (which you addressed quite nicely in your jab at partisanship and Fox News). My first point (which includes serious Senate reform) is directed at "checks and balances" for that very purpose of balance.
Why the balance?
Going back to a statement by Brad Sallows on another thread:
Brad Sallows said:There will always be manipulative and deceitful and greedy people. They will tend to seek out power structures which facilitate their goals. For those reasons I prefer to minimize government power as a precaution against the inevitable. The system of government we establish to safeguard our rights, can in turn abuse those rights if not controlled.
As well, Andrew Coyne remarked in an editorial that:
You can slap on all the controls and accountability mechanisms you want, that is, but so long as ministers have the means, motive and opportunity to interfere, interfere they will.
I guess it all falls back to that Lord Acton quote on power - regardless of who is in power, the safeguards must be in place to protect the citizenry against the manipulative, the deceitful, and the plain old incompetent. I am enough of a realist to know that these types of people exist and will make it into power. The system must be structured so as to allow for this and to contain it. In my opinion, the de facto unicameral house and centralized power structure does not do so.
From what I've heard, a Single Transferable Vote system may actually reduce this, to some small degree, by increasing the likelihood of small parties/independent members gaining seats.
I can't understand the system and how my vote is going to be utilized (manipulated) by it to ensure "fairness". There is something to be said for the KISS principle in democratic politics - go down, vote for your choice, live with your representative. We are not going to close the democratic deficit at all by bringing in a ballot system that requires one to have a PhD in Governance to figure it out.
I thought THIS quote pertained to your second paragraph quite well:
"The old parties are husks, with no real soul within either, divided on artificial lines, boss-ridden and privilege-controlled, each a jumble of incongruous elements, and neither daring to speak out wisely and fearlessly on what should be said on the vital issues of the day."
- Teddy Roosevelt
Yes, very much so. Teddy Roosevelt is one of my favorites (and Kissinger's too ).