Tuesday, December 2, 2008

People must be free to have a voice that counts.

I have my issues with Canadian elections, coalition governments are not one of them. Political parties are responsible for representing the interests of their constituency and at times their interests are best represented through compromise. Overlapping consensus as coined by Rawls is the foundation of the our democracy and the Conservative government has proven they cannot honor this agreement.

This coalition is in the best interest of the people and it is just.

2 comments:

Jacques Beau Vert said...

I respectfully disagree. As much as I'd like to see Harper punished for his pettiness last week, I don't think this is the answer. No Canadian was considering a coalition when they voted six weeks ago, after Dion and Duceppe explicitly dismissed the idea, so I can't agree that it is just.

However, I'm totally interested in the idea of coalition governments - it's a great regret that the Liberals and NDP didn't come up this spirit of co-operation 8 or 12 weeks ago. I think it's a bit late in the game to legitimately try to form one now. People must be free to have a voice that counts -- as much as I don't want another election, let's do that instead. The Liberals and NDP can run together, or promise to work together as a coalition if necessary. Only then will our voices really count.

It's a terrible mess, not sure how we'll get out of it.

Brett McDowell said...

Once again I think this is a case of Overlapping consensus. The Conservatives made plans to cripple the other parties through legislation and did a great disservice to the Canadian people. But in spite of our differences we can come together.

I do not think we should have another election. This is how democracy is supposed to function. We have to negotiate and compromise. The conservatives failed to do so and will face a confidence vote because of it.

37 % of people should not rule the remaining 63 %. How is that democratic, each of these MPs have a valid and legitimate voice.

"it's a great regret that the Liberals and NDP didn't come up this spirit of co-operation 8 or 12 weeks ago"

There was no need 12 weeks ago, that need has been manufactured by the current government.