Why is so much money being spent misrepresenting the choices? Follow that money – who gains under the present First Past the Post electoral system? Answer: the corporate elite and their minions, whose interest is not in the democratic rights of the citizens but rather their own bottom lines. Under the existing FPTP system, the already wealthy keep getting much richer – no wonder they want the gravy train to keep rolling. Too bad the world’s ecology is being flushed down the toilet in the name of their profit.
And who has been betrayed by the First Past the Post electoral system? Most of us, whose earnings haven’t even kept pace with inflation, much less increased. The unacceptable number of children living in poverty. The youth who can’t see a future in which they’ll be able to afford a house. The grandchildren who will inherit all the externalized costs incurred by continuing the disparities, injustices, and pollution of the FPTP status quo, where the most government will do is go for the photo op or look the other way.
The FPTP electoral system enables a lack of accountability of governments once elected. The vote should represent the most sacred verbal contract in democracy, that between the voter and the candidate, who promises to do certain things in return for the vote. Instead, we have a party system in which the electorate is ignored in favor of the Party, who have a different agenda. That is nothing more than institutionalized Fascism – wasn’t a war fought against that? Candidates now apparently feel totally comfortable lying to the voters and to the media, as demonstrated most egregiously by Mr. Trudeau, who promised us that 2015 would be the last FPTP vote. Now that he’s in power, he dances to the tune of his corporate masters. Proportional representation will help to correct the imbalance of power.
Do we want any control of our futures or do we want to end up like two major FPTP states close to us? Britain doesn’t know whether it’s coming or going, and the USA is going nowhere because it’s paralyzed by political tribalism. Elections under FPTP tend to be closer than a 60-40 split and in many, the “victor” didn’t even get a real majority – what kind of progress toward any positive agenda is possible when half of the citizenry won’t buy in because they aren’t getting what they voted for? Instead, the result is wasteful and costly seesawing between competing for political ideologies.
This is undoubtedly one reason why countries like Norway, Switzerland and New Zealand have gone to Proportional Representation –ask yourself why they’re not in the news because of dissension? Why haven’t they given up Proportional Representation and gone back to FPTP?
People, don’t be fooled by money-driven propaganda! This may be our best and maybe even our only chance to change our lemming-like march over the cliff and instead improve the future. Choose Proportional Representation.
Wayne Choquette | Yahk
