• IninewCrow@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    So are the members representing the political party?

    Or are members representing the constituents that elected them?

    I thought we were running a democratic system of government here

    • Rocket@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      So are the members representing the political party?

      Yes, party members are quite clear that they will stand by the party above all else. A long, long, long time ago there was more leeway for party members to consider constituent perspectives, but unbridled use of the whip changed the landscape.

      These days, if you are not voting for an independent, you’re guaranteed to not have representation.

      I thought we were running a democratic system of government here

      We are. Being able to cede control to a dictatorial power is a democratic freedom.

      • TurtleJoe@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        These days, if you are not voting for an independent, you’re guaranteed to not have representation.

        This is a bullshit, false equivocation.

      • IninewCrow@lemmy.ca
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        1 year ago

        We are. Being able to cede control to a dictatorial power is a democratic freedom.

        You mean … KNOWINGLY being able to cede control to a dictatorial power is a democratic freedom.

        Coercing the public and doing things behind complicated legal and political jargon and systems that very few can understand is not an open democratic system.

        • Rocket@lemmy.ca
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          1 year ago

          Our democratic system isn’t hard to understand at all. The people meet in the ‘town square’ with the hired representative to flesh out what the locals want to see, and then the representative carries the message to the central meeting place, to meet with all of the other representatives, where the product of those town square meetings are compiled together to achieve a final result. The activity in the central meeting place is recorded so that the people back home can audit that the representative is acting in good faith with respect to what happened in the town square.

          It is not hard to see when the town halls are not happening. And when that is the case, you know you’ve ceded control to a dictatorial power. There is absolutely nothing out there to make anyone think that the representatives are mind readers. If you are not talking to them, you know it is impossible for them to represent you. That’s just basic math.

          • IninewCrow@lemmy.ca
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            1 year ago

            Fair point and I agree … part of the problem is the apathy of the public and ignorance of the masses

            • Rocket@lemmy.ca
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              1 year ago

              Is it a problem? I expect we like it this way. Especially because it leaves us feeling like we can say “That didn’t go well and it’s all [insert arbitrary figurehead]'s fault!”

    • Son_of_dad@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      The Canadian governments don’t represent Canada. Canada only cares about the citizens of other nations. We’re just a piggy bank to them.

        • Son_of_dad@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Every Canadian government big action and focus always seems to be on foreign affairs. Constant debates in Ottawa about what is happening around the world. Meanwhile Canadians are drowning in debt, housing costs, food costs, cost of living etc. But Canadian politicians don’t give a shit about that, all they care about are scandals and foreign affairs.