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Figure and Ground
Monday, 8 November 2004 09:58 amI wish I remember who said that you never really understand democracy until you've lived through elections in at least two of them. Since moving to Canada, I've certainly said to myself, "Well the US does that element of government better" or "Canada does that much better."
There are some sad parallels between US and Canadian government right now, that I haven't seen mentioned in the papers.
In the recent Canadian election, the ruling Liberal party won a minority of the seats in the House of Commons, which means they can stay in power as long as the majority of seats don't force a "no confidence" vote.
However Paul Martin, the leader of the Liberals, is said to be governing as if he had a majority, which makes for a shaky basis for government. Maybe this means they will just keep being ineffectual at enacting the slightly-left-of-centre social policies the Liberals want to enact. In any case, if the Liberals really over-reach their mandate, their government will fall like a house of cards, and we will get a new government. (possibly better, possibly worse; but probably more representative of the will of the duly elected members of parlament).
The US has suffered through two elections where just *barely* 51% of voters distributed around the country have chosen a leader. This leader has declared that he has "earned capital in the campaign, political capital, and now I intend to spend it," presumably on chosing a new Supreme Court justice and trying to reform Social Security and taxes.
Just after the election, d remarked to me that the US didnn't have red or blue states, it has purple states. That image has stuck with me, and conveniently, a researcher at princeton has drawn a map, by county.
( Read more... )
Two things strike me about those maps, where the first one erases the difference between 55/45 and 45/55, and the second one puts it in stark contrast.
The current system is blatantly unfair, though heaven only knows what to do to fix it. I'm not sure eliminating the electoral college is the right answer. A true three-party system might be.
Secondly, if Bush & Co. take their win as a universal mandate, I predict tensions in the US will be higher in four years than they are now, as 48% of voters get more and more pissed off.
What an excellent time it would be for liberals / greens / etc. to get their (our) act together and propose a real third choice.
There are some sad parallels between US and Canadian government right now, that I haven't seen mentioned in the papers.
In the recent Canadian election, the ruling Liberal party won a minority of the seats in the House of Commons, which means they can stay in power as long as the majority of seats don't force a "no confidence" vote.
However Paul Martin, the leader of the Liberals, is said to be governing as if he had a majority, which makes for a shaky basis for government. Maybe this means they will just keep being ineffectual at enacting the slightly-left-of-centre social policies the Liberals want to enact. In any case, if the Liberals really over-reach their mandate, their government will fall like a house of cards, and we will get a new government. (possibly better, possibly worse; but probably more representative of the will of the duly elected members of parlament).
The US has suffered through two elections where just *barely* 51% of voters distributed around the country have chosen a leader. This leader has declared that he has "earned capital in the campaign, political capital, and now I intend to spend it," presumably on chosing a new Supreme Court justice and trying to reform Social Security and taxes.
Just after the election, d remarked to me that the US didnn't have red or blue states, it has purple states. That image has stuck with me, and conveniently, a researcher at princeton has drawn a map, by county.
( Read more... )
Two things strike me about those maps, where the first one erases the difference between 55/45 and 45/55, and the second one puts it in stark contrast.
The current system is blatantly unfair, though heaven only knows what to do to fix it. I'm not sure eliminating the electoral college is the right answer. A true three-party system might be.
Secondly, if Bush & Co. take their win as a universal mandate, I predict tensions in the US will be higher in four years than they are now, as 48% of voters get more and more pissed off.
What an excellent time it would be for liberals / greens / etc. to get their (our) act together and propose a real third choice.
