{"id":294,"date":"2008-10-01T16:56:00","date_gmt":"2008-10-01T23:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\/breckenridge\/?p=294"},"modified":"2008-10-24T22:30:48","modified_gmt":"2008-10-25T05:30:48","slug":"294","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\/?p=294","title":{"rendered":"Do we really live in a Democracy? part one"},"content":{"rendered":"

Do we really live in a Democracy?<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The one thing you can say about our current election is it is indisputable proof that if we want to live in a Democracy and have good governance addressing the important issues and challenges facing Canada and Canadians, we must have Federal Electoral Reform.<\/p>\n

OK \u2013 the one thing you can say beside the facts it is an unnecessary waste of taxpayers dollars (what else would expect from politicians than to fail to consider the effect of their actions on the people they are suppose to represent?) and in violation of the fixed election date law passed by the government that called the election (what else would you expect from politicians than to consider themselves above the laws of Canada?) <\/span><\/p>\n

Citizens are being served garbage on a silver platter by all the federal parties. With apologies to anyone who makes silver platters, this is as apt a description of what politicians are trying to pass off as debate and discourse on which any semi-intelligent, semi-rational person could make an effective decision on who should be sent to Parliament to form a government.<\/p>\n

At a time citizens need to decide who could (not would but could possibly) provide good government and effectively begin to clean up the mess our current and recent crops of politicians have strewn across all parts of Canada and abroad federal parties and politicians seem bent on demonstrating their complete lack of ability.<\/p>\n

The very foundation of Democracy is informed consent of the governed. If citizens cannot make an informed choice and thus cannot give informed consent, the government is not democratically elected and the country (Canada) is not truly a democracy, even if politicians choose to label it a democracy in order to make ruling the population easier.<\/p>\n

Slick \u2013 yes. Loud \u2013 yes. Full of empty promises, of politicians avoiding important issues and questions, of misleading statements, smoke and mirrors, half-truths, lack of debate and examination of reasoning\/explanations, of sound bites \u2013 yes.<\/p>\n

Substance to be able to make an informed judgment and thus grant informed consent \u2013 NO.<\/p>\n

We look at China and decry the lack of democracy in China. But is there really any difference between Canada and China; between Canadians having to decide among 5 bad\/unacceptable choices and Chinese having only one bad\/unacceptable choice? Not in any meaningful way.<\/p>\n

The choice Canadians need to focus on, should be struggling with, is not who will form the next government but how do we take back our country and turn it into a democracy in fact and function – not just in name.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all<\/em>.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

John F. Kennedy<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Do we really live in a Democracy? The one thing you can say about our current election is it is indisputable proof that if we want to live in a Democracy and have good governance addressing the important issues and challenges facing Canada and Canadians, we must have Federal Electoral Reform. OK \u2013 the one thing you can say beside the facts it is an unnecessary waste of taxpayers dollars (what else would expect from politicians than to fail to consider the effect of their actions on the people they are suppose to represent?) and in violation of the fixed election date law passed by the government that called the election (what else would you expect from politicians than to consider themselves above the laws of Canada?) Citizens are being served garbage on a silver platter by all the federal parties. With apologies to anyone who makes silver platters, this is as apt a description of what politicians are trying to pass off as debate and discourse on which any semi-intelligent, semi-rational person could make an effective decision on who should be sent to Parliament to form a government. At a time citizens need to decide who could (not would but could possibly) provide good government and effectively begin to clean up the mess our current and recent crops of politicians have strewn across all parts of Canada and abroad federal parties and politicians seem bent on demonstrating their complete lack of ability. The very foundation of Democracy is informed consent of the governed. If citizens cannot make an informed choice and thus cannot give informed consent, the government is not democratically elected and the country (Canada) is not truly a democracy, even if politicians choose to label it a democracy in order to make ruling the population easier. Slick \u2013 yes. Loud \u2013 yes. Full of empty promises, of politicians avoiding important issues and questions, of misleading statements, smoke and mirrors, half-truths, lack of debate and examination of reasoning\/explanations, of sound bites \u2013 yes. Substance to be able to make an informed judgment and thus grant informed consent \u2013 NO. We look at China and decry the lack of democracy in China. But is there really any difference between Canada and China; between Canadians having to decide among 5 bad\/unacceptable choices and Chinese having only one bad\/unacceptable choice? Not in any meaningful way. The choice Canadians need to focus on, should be struggling with, is not who will form the next government but how do we take back our country and turn it into a democracy in fact and function – not just in name. \u201cThe ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all.\u201d John F. Kennedy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-point-of-view","category-federal"],"yoast_head":"\nDo we really live in a Democracy? part one - James W. Breckenridge<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.jameswbreckenridge.ca\/?p=294\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Do we really live in a Democracy? part one - James W. Breckenridge\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Do we really live in a Democracy? The one thing you can say about our current election is it is indisputable proof that if we want to live in a Democracy and have good governance addressing the important issues and challenges facing Canada and Canadians, we must have Federal Electoral Reform. OK \u2013 the one thing you can say beside the facts it is an unnecessary waste of taxpayers dollars (what else would expect from politicians than to fail to consider the effect of their actions on the people they are suppose to represent?) and in violation of the fixed election date law passed by the government that called the election (what else would you expect from politicians than to consider themselves above the laws of Canada?) Citizens are being served garbage on a silver platter by all the federal parties. 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Full of empty promises, of politicians avoiding important issues and questions, of misleading statements, smoke and mirrors, half-truths, lack of debate and examination of reasoning\/explanations, of sound bites \u2013 yes. Substance to be able to make an informed judgment and thus grant informed consent \u2013 NO. We look at China and decry the lack of democracy in China. But is there really any difference between Canada and China; between Canadians having to decide among 5 bad\/unacceptable choices and Chinese having only one bad\/unacceptable choice? Not in any meaningful way. The choice Canadians need to focus on, should be struggling with, is not who will form the next government but how do we take back our country and turn it into a democracy in fact and function – not just in name. \u201cThe ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all.\u201d John F. 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