tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12426618.post114987098135537478..comments2023-08-03T07:33:41.442-07:00Comments on Idealistic Pragmatist: Canada's left: a credoIdealistic Pragmatisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18296481430598981678noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12426618.post-1151590754268955892006-06-29T07:19:00.000-07:002006-06-29T07:19:00.000-07:00Jason,I am advocating a way of adopting a PR syste...Jason,<BR/><BR/>I am advocating a way of adopting a PR system that has come quite close to working in several provinces, and may yet in B.C. (where they're going to have another kick at the can in conjunction with the next provincial election), Ontario or New Brunswick: a citizens' assembly to choose a new system, followed by a referendum. You are advocating a way of adopting a PR system that has never been tried, and never even come close to being tried. Exactly which one of us is out of touch with the reality of how a new system might be implemented?<BR/><BR/>And by the way, you might want to actually have a look at <A HREF="http://www.rabble.ca/babble/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic&f=1&t=005805" REL="nofollow">the available data</A> before throwing around accusations about the NDP being unwilling to criticize Harper without also criticizing the Liberals. Not to mention ignoring <A HREF="http://idealisticpragmatist.blogspot.com/2006/05/jack-laytons-sinister-mind-control.html" REL="nofollow">the plank in your own eye</A> on the way the parties approach each other.Idealistic Pragmatisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18296481430598981678noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12426618.post-1150654166623911452006-06-18T11:09:00.000-07:002006-06-18T11:09:00.000-07:00I may be too late for the comment to get noticed, ...I may be too late for the comment to get noticed, IP, but I appreciate where you're coming from with your resevations; I just don't share some of the standards and assumptions that go into it.<BR/><BR/>I don't, for example, think that a party has to be full of fully-vetted, officially progressive MPs for to be a progressive party.<BR/><BR/>I don't think that the previously adequate "Liberals implementing policy first favoured by the CCF/NDP" model is really adequate rigth now. We face what is, in a way, a sort of surreal crisis of the Canadian left, as progressive views come under threat in the midst of a prosperous and successful Canada that embraces progressive ideals more than it ever has.<BR/><BR/>I do, notably, think that PR and a coalition of Liberal, NDP and Green parties is the best way forward. I think that politically and democratically, the way to do this is with a mixed member preferential voting/PR system. It'll be hard as hell to get. <BR/><BR/>I honestly, sadly, don't believe we can get it through a grassroots bottom-up effort - that's why you hear me argue for a faustian bargain between the parties for a better democracy. But always remember, this means convincing the LPC to make the NDP hugely more competitive, above all. The NDP with whom we fight a continual, bad-blooded civil war on the left. <BR/><BR/>It's a tragic cycle really - it's hard to contemplate a politically one-sided reform because we act like ancestral enemies, and we act like ancestral enemies because we haven't had this reform.<BR/><BR/>I will keep up my efforts to advocate electoral reform, but I believe we need a lot of peace, love and understanding between these parties as well, because it's a goddamned hard sell sometimes when the NDP can't say a word about Harper without prefacing it with lambasting us evildoers.Jason Townsendhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11991293325959283244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12426618.post-1149885289817497472006-06-09T13:34:00.000-07:002006-06-09T13:34:00.000-07:00I fully agree with you. This may hard to believe c...I fully agree with you. This may hard to believe coming from a conservative, but I agree with your article.<BR/><BR/>There's nothing worse for the political process than politicians who say they are A when in fact they are B. We need politicians who are what they are: i.e., true conservatives, true social democrats, etc., and not those wishy-washy types that no one ever knows what to do with them.<BR/><BR/>So many Tories are not real Tories, but Liberals in Tory clothes. At the same time, we see left-wingers masquerading as Liberals and vice-versa. You can play through all possible permutations and combinations - it's out there.<BR/><BR/>That's why I recently wrote a <A HREF="http://albertapundit.com/?p=274" REL="nofollow">column</A> where I said that I'd rather take the NDP over the Liberals, because with the NDP, by and large, you know what to expect.Georgehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10434442702660664636noreply@blogger.com