[fvc-wat-disc] Party's Over: Why We Need To Abolish PoliticalParties by Andrew Nikiforuk

[Dave Arthur]

Political parties have the benefit of developing a platform on which they, including their leader and all their local candidates campaign.
Having no parties leaves constituents with little to go on and little national discussion.
PR and more independence of MPs solves many of the problems.
The Broadbent video of Helen Clark’s discussion of how politics changed in New Zealand with MMP and the working with other parties supports that.
Dave A
 

Sent from Mail for Windows 10

From: Jennifer Ross
Sent: Friday, July 6, 2018 8:38 AM
To: STUART CHANDLER
Cc: FVC Waterloo Region Discussion
Subject: Re: [fvc-wat-disc] Party's Over: Why We Need To Abolish PoliticalParties by Andrew Nikiforuk

I agree, Stu.  The only possible advantage I can see is no party whips without a party.  But as we know, "free votes" aren't free, so pressure would still be applied by the "like-minded" to vote as told.  Would actually be worse for the MPs in my view, since they have no outward reason to totally abandon what they campaigned on.

On Fri, Jul 6, 2018 at 8:23 AM, STUART CHANDLER <stuchandler43 at gmail.com> wrote:
On the topic of eliminating political parties, the Tyee article leaves me quite unsatisfied, and therefore unconvinced. For one, there was no discussion of how the Canadian parliamentary system would work, without them. (I could imagine the US system working though) 
Second, I would challenge Weil's statement that " careful examination" reveals "no inconvenience" from the elimination of political parties. Convenience is one of the important reasons for the existence of such parties: the convenience of gaining some idea of what a candidate stands for, how many others feel similarly, and how they might be expected to vote on particular issues. (Subsequently not voting as originally advertised is a problem, but not one that would be eliminated by doing away with parties!)

In my view, this issue is simply a distraction. Even if it would improve voters' representation in Parliament (which I doubt) it is even less likely to happen than a party in power legislating PR! 
Besides, PR would tend to give "independents" more power in Parliament. 
So I'm sticking with focusing on getting PR. 

Stu 


On Thursday, July 5, 2018, Jennifer Ross <2jennross at gmail.com> wrote:
The comments are fascinating!  Thanks for giving me the heads up to look at them, which I wasn't going to do.  Wish I was there 3 days ago, when I could have commented meaningfully with The Dude.  Specifically, why is this Libertarian's mantra about not being forced to do anything by the government, but meaning paying taxes since he next derides "any place that does not have the rule of law and does not respect people's liberty" but isn't the rule of law exactly telling people what to do?

But this guy isn't a troll and his perspective, even though I don't understand it, appears to be one he's applied thought to.

An entirely new commentary on the dangers of FPTP.

On Thu, Jul 5, 2018 at 9:58 PM, Sharon Sommerville <sharonsommerville at gmail.com> wrote:

That's strange Jenn, as it just worked for me. And, thanks for sending out an alternative link.  The article is worth reading as are the comments.

Cheers,
S.

On Thu, Jul 5, 2018 at 9:56 PM, Jennifer Ross <2jennross at gmail.com> wrote:
You might try this link, as the one Sharon provided doesn't work.


https://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2018/06/29/Abolish-Political-Parties/ 

On Thu, Jul 5, 2018 at 9:34 PM, Sharon Sommerville <sharonsommerville at gmail.com> wrote:
Hello FairVoting Friends,

Andrew Nikiforuk is a respected journalist and author who has written this very intriguing article published in The Tyee.
Thought you might find it of interest.

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/1646b38c703060d4

Kind regards,
Sharon 

_______________________________________________
This is the fvc-wat-disc mailing list
Post a message: fvc-wat-disc at listserv.thinkers.org
Unsubscribe: http://listserv.thinkers.org/mailman/listinfo/fvc-wat-disc_listserv.thinkers.org



-- 
No other Western democratic country concentrates as much political power in the hands of one person as Canada does with her Prime Minister. 

_______________________________________________
This is the fvc-wat-disc mailing list
Post a message: fvc-wat-disc at listserv.thinkers.org
Unsubscribe: http://listserv.thinkers.org/mailman/listinfo/fvc-wat-disc_listserv.thinkers.org




-- 
No other Western democratic country concentrates as much political power in the hands of one person as Canada does with her Prime Minister. 



-- 
No other Western democratic country concentrates as much political power in the hands of one person as Canada does with her Prime Minister. 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://listserv.thinkers.org/pipermail/fvc-wat-disc_listserv.thinkers.org/attachments/20180706/4adb8cb9/attachment-0002.htm>