There is an obvious logistical nightmare of creating legislature for tens of millions of people (or seven billion people, for that matter). Developing any strategy on such a scale is inevitably going to involve some compromise. Even if you accept representative democracy as the best solution to these issues, the system has significant shortcomings and flaws that need to be addressed.
In Canada, there has been some growing support for electoral reform; specifically proportional representation. This is at least a step in the right direction. The “first-past-the-post” means of electing officials is definitely one of the most worrisome aspects of the whole system for me. It ensures that every minority position is marginalized. In a nation that aims to protect minorities and secure the rights of all people, this is inexcusable. Because this is such a vast country and our parliament's seats are divided by geographic boundaries rather than popular support, it is quite possible for significant groups of people to be left without any actual input in the decision making process. I am not fond of party politics but there is a huge disconnect in the proportions of seats that a party gets and the percentage of the popular vote that they receive. The NDP consistently receives far fewer seats than their support warrants, mainly due to the size and boundaries of the districts that the seats represent. In 2008, the Bloc Quebecois won 49 seats with only 10.0% of the popular vote while the NDP had 18.13% of the popular vote while only winning 37 seats*. The proportions for any other segment or issue could be even greater. The issues that have caused the most controversy involve significant portions of the population that are widely distributed and lack the concentrations necessary to earn representation. A complex issue like marijuana decriminalization, can have significant support** but will likely never have the unified, geographically-specific, movement needed to force change. There are other issues that have greater consequences, with far-reaching social and moral ramifications just around the corner.
Don't get me wrong, there are things about pop politics that terrify me; but I pretty firmly believe that everyone deserves their say.
* Clearly this was an intended effect of the system of electoral districts and is an artifact of the long and tricky relationship the Canadian government has had with La belle province. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Democratic_Party http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloc_Qu%C3%A9b%C3%A9cois
** http://www.nationalpost.com/news/Majority+Canadians+support+legalizing+marijuana+poll/2911881/story.html
The problem with political regions is that they are created by the parties with power. Obviously Quebec is the extreme example, but for years, the dominant political power would draw the map, such that various linguistic groups were more or less marginalized.
ReplyDeleteObviously empowering minority views, so that they are able to have a voice on the political scene would be good, but don't these types of situations normally lead to large coalition blocs, where these same minorities have to comprimise what makes them a minority view, so that they aren't considered irrelevant in the realpolitikal way? I mean, there is always the case of the "swing vote", but I can't imagine that is the norm(?).
Don't get me wrong, I have no idea how we would replace political parties... lulz
Just looked it up on Wiki, native peoples + metis make up about 5% of the population of Canada, about 16 % of Manitoba. Proportional representation would certainly give those groups much more political say than they have now.
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