Friday 22 January 2010

The big political parties don't want PR

First Past The Post is not a democratic system of voting, it is undemocratic. For a system to be Democratic requires that each vote counts equally and we have the ability to gain full representation in Government. To be Democratic requires proportionality. Only a (voting) system with Proportional Representation is Democratic.

To be Democratic requires that the voters are represented in a proportional way, according to the parties that they have voted for. Without proportionality, the system is not Democratic.

The big (political) parties don't want voting reform...

Only a system of proportional representation will enable the electorate to get rid of the 'big' party system. Without PR we can't get rid of the big parties. We're stuck with the big parties until PR is introduced.
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3 comments:

  1. -22 January 2010 at 17:13

    I'm on the same page as you with this one. It's effectively like asking a dictator for the right to vote. Of course, any push towards greater representation is going to be resisted by those that hold undue amounts of power.

    It has to start from the ground up. If you can raise people's expectations of what voting means (i.e. more than just selecting a single candidate), then things can get moving. I built an election web app in an effort to do just this. Dunno, but you've got to start somewhere, right?

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  2. Geolibertarian22 January 2010 at 18:28

    Thanks for the comment Brad, we're in one of those difficult situations where the political system doesn't (can't) offer the solution because it has nothing to lose from the status quo.

    There is nothing external to the problem that can sort things out.

    We are left with the hope that the politicians will come to the realisation that, whilst it might better better for them, the system is flawed...

    Perhaps surprisingly, I am hopeful of an enlightenment of this type although the present situation is tragic when we consider how great a proportion of the global population is under this system.

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  3. -22 January 2010 at 18:46

    The one thing that gives me hope is the direction of social progress throughout the last couple millennia. While there are certainly hiccups, we're progressing to something fairer.

    I drew a quick graph some months ago that demonstrates what electoral reform is all about: http://www.cognitivesandbox.com/posts/trends-in-fairness-and-complexity/

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