Final_Product said:
Yes, it is like we want to feel like part of the solution, not part of the problem!
Democracy lie
- Thread starter Norsemaiden
- Start date
Yes, it is like we want to feel like part of the solution, not part of the problem!
derek
Grey Eminence
Hell yes! Lets go burn the houses of parliament!
edit: That was maybe a tad extreme, upon reflection. Maybe just coughing insults at politicians as they enter/leave the building would be more appropriate
edit: That was maybe a tad extreme, upon reflection. Maybe just coughing insults at politicians as they enter/leave the building would be more appropriate
derek
Grey Eminence
The Bringer
Member
LORD_RED_DRAGON
New Metal Member
"power corupts and absolute power corupts absolutely" i've been thinking about this and i realized that the only people capable of attaining "absolute power" are those people that are already "corupt" to begin with, what i mean is that the reason the American government sucks to the point of people complaining about it is mostly because most of the people that are even remotely interested in actually becoming politicians are already totally evil before they attain the type/amount of power that makes people become "power crazy" to begin with. Those few polititions that actually start off being non-evil either become "power crazy" or are out numbered to the point of not being able to change anything for the better because America operates under "majority rule" where the minority gets trampled
"the reason that majority rule doesn't work is because you'll always end up having 5 wolves and 1 sheep voting on what to have for dinner"
-Larry Flynt
"the reason that majority rule doesn't work is because you'll always end up having 5 wolves and 1 sheep voting on what to have for dinner"
-Larry Flynt
LORD_RED_DRAGON
New Metal Member
i've had it in my head for a really long time, cuz it's really obvious if you live in america, but i just wasn't able to articulate it very well till just nowNorsemaiden said:
The Winnipeg Warrior
The Winnipeg Warrior ®
.....and article from the Ottawa Citizen
Get out there and vote!
Democracy requires active, continual participation
Don Butler, The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Monday, January 23, 2006
Exercise your franchise. A curious phrase, don't you think? It conjures up images of voters wheezing on treadmills or pumping iron, desperately trying to whip their flabby democratic muscles into shape.
But on reflection, the expression is really quite apt. After all, the act of voting is how citizens keep their democracy fit. Without the workout of an election, democracy would quickly sink into morbid obesity.
Journalist Joe Schlesinger puts it another way. "Elections," he writes, "are to democracy what weddings are to marriage. In democracy, as in marriage, you have to work at it or lose it."
Whatever metaphor you prefer, the message is the same: voting is a right and responsibility of every citizen who values living in a democracy. But as Canadians vote today, our collective franchise is in dire need of a Participaction plan. Its abs are turning to flab, its glutes are going soft, its pecs in peril.
After averaging a respectable 75 per cent for decades, turnout in federal elections started falling in the 1990s, bottoming out at just fewer than 61 per cent of eligible voters in 2004 -- the lowest in Canadian history.
In the 1990s, Canada placed 109th among 163 nations ranked for voter turnout by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, behind such democratic powerhouses as Algeria, Mozambique and Togo. But hey, at least we beat the United States, way down in 140th place. No "American-style" voter turnout here, thanks very much!
Increasingly, we seem to agree with the elderly woman who once told TV host Jack Paar, "I never vote. It only encourages them." Still, our indifference stands in stark contrast to attitudes in parts of the world that haven't yet evolved our level of democratic complacency.
Just last month, Canadians watched admiringly as more than 10 million Iraqis defied death threats to vote for their first freely elected government. A year earlier, a not-dissimilar scene played out in Ukraine.
It makes you wonder what's gone wrong here. Why does the beauty of the ballot no longer seduce us? Can we do anything to rekindle that lovin' feeling? Or is it gone, gone, gone?
In truth, many Canadians still take their responsibility to vote very seriously. In the 2000 election, more than 80 per cent of those age 58 and older say they voted, according to a study done for Elections Canada by political scientists Jon Pammett of Carleton University and Lawrence LeDuc of the University of Toronto.
For those between 38 and 57, voting rates slipped somewhat, but remained respectable. The big decline came among those 37 and younger, where the drop-off in voting levels was precipitous, falling to just 22.4 per cent for 18-to-20-year-old first-time voters.
Why is this happening? "There's no real easy answer," says Mr. Pammett, adding it doesn't appear to be related to active distaste for the political process. "The people who are most negative, the kind of 'pox on all your houses' people," he says, "are more likely to be people in their 40s and 50s. Young people are more likely to cite disinterest or impediments like registration, or being too busy."
Get out there and vote!
Democracy requires active, continual participation
Don Butler, The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Monday, January 23, 2006
Exercise your franchise. A curious phrase, don't you think? It conjures up images of voters wheezing on treadmills or pumping iron, desperately trying to whip their flabby democratic muscles into shape.
But on reflection, the expression is really quite apt. After all, the act of voting is how citizens keep their democracy fit. Without the workout of an election, democracy would quickly sink into morbid obesity.
Journalist Joe Schlesinger puts it another way. "Elections," he writes, "are to democracy what weddings are to marriage. In democracy, as in marriage, you have to work at it or lose it."
Whatever metaphor you prefer, the message is the same: voting is a right and responsibility of every citizen who values living in a democracy. But as Canadians vote today, our collective franchise is in dire need of a Participaction plan. Its abs are turning to flab, its glutes are going soft, its pecs in peril.
After averaging a respectable 75 per cent for decades, turnout in federal elections started falling in the 1990s, bottoming out at just fewer than 61 per cent of eligible voters in 2004 -- the lowest in Canadian history.
In the 1990s, Canada placed 109th among 163 nations ranked for voter turnout by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, behind such democratic powerhouses as Algeria, Mozambique and Togo. But hey, at least we beat the United States, way down in 140th place. No "American-style" voter turnout here, thanks very much!
Increasingly, we seem to agree with the elderly woman who once told TV host Jack Paar, "I never vote. It only encourages them." Still, our indifference stands in stark contrast to attitudes in parts of the world that haven't yet evolved our level of democratic complacency.
Just last month, Canadians watched admiringly as more than 10 million Iraqis defied death threats to vote for their first freely elected government. A year earlier, a not-dissimilar scene played out in Ukraine.
It makes you wonder what's gone wrong here. Why does the beauty of the ballot no longer seduce us? Can we do anything to rekindle that lovin' feeling? Or is it gone, gone, gone?
In truth, many Canadians still take their responsibility to vote very seriously. In the 2000 election, more than 80 per cent of those age 58 and older say they voted, according to a study done for Elections Canada by political scientists Jon Pammett of Carleton University and Lawrence LeDuc of the University of Toronto.
For those between 38 and 57, voting rates slipped somewhat, but remained respectable. The big decline came among those 37 and younger, where the drop-off in voting levels was precipitous, falling to just 22.4 per cent for 18-to-20-year-old first-time voters.
Why is this happening? "There's no real easy answer," says Mr. Pammett, adding it doesn't appear to be related to active distaste for the political process. "The people who are most negative, the kind of 'pox on all your houses' people," he says, "are more likely to be people in their 40s and 50s. Young people are more likely to cite disinterest or impediments like registration, or being too busy."
byrne said:
You may not have a say either way.
1. The majority determines who gets to be candidate.
2. The majority determines what issues are acceptable to discuss.
For what radical environmental candidate can I vote?
You got it - none, as none are on the ballot and none will make it.
Norsemaiden said:
Aristotle predicted this. Democracy is a way of making people feel they ARE participating, while neutralizing their ability to do much of anything. It prevents revolution, but destroys the possibility for change.
^^^ I sort of disagree with that. While having 2 similar main parties does destroy chance of revolution i dont neccassarily it stops change. In Australia at the moment, the Liberal (Conservative) Government, that is currently in power, is attempting to introduce a lot of change, from work place relations to counter terrorism
Danallica said:
The changes are not decided by what the people want, only what the politicians (and those who pull their strings) have planned.
Danallica said:
Yet change comes in degrees. Will they introduce enough change? And at some point, is it "change" we want or simply sanity - and if sanity has been elusive so far, won't it take some strong power to get it through the vote?
Well its chnage that i welcome, some people are arguing that the proposed changes are too extreme, and this is our conservative party we are talking about here. Our Labor party (slightly left) havent done anythingthing in years, the last thing they did was cause the Australia economy to crash and a recession to happen. And tapping on what someone said earlier, i think thats why, at least in Australia, there is a bit of a move towrds conservatism, because its safe.
LORD_RED_DRAGON
New Metal Member
perfect description of America, but is it also an accurate description of any other country???Norsemaiden said:
LORD_RED_DRAGON
New Metal Member
EphelDuath
Hiljaisuudesta
LORD_RED_DRAGON
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