Double Blind

Right now there are a few grassroots movements out there (just google for it), although I’m sure that some are ‘grassier’ than others. The fact of the matter is that a lot more people out there stand to gain than lose, and they recognize that this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to reshape the electoral process in British Columbia. This is probably one of those rare moments where the political left and right can align on a particular issue.

When googling for the powers against STV, you have people like David Schreck and Norman Spector. Since the BC Liberals and NDP are keeping their mouths shut (ironically if they supported it they probably would be doing the ‘no’ side a favour), it’s obvious that the ‘yes’ side is winning round one of the battle that will continue with more mud slinging. The ‘no’ side will continue to make convoluted arguments dealing with the process of counting votes, while the ‘yes’ side will say “it’s time for a change”.

The yes side should be advertising the best benefit of STV, which is that it reduces the power of political parties, and increases the power of the individuals who run. You can be sure that people like John Nunziata, who voted against a federal budget because of their failed promises to scrap the GST and subsequently got kicked out of the Liberal party, would probably be still be in the House of Commons as independents. As they know they could more easily break away from the party since their probability of getting re-elected is higher, they would be more inclined to voice the opinions of the people that really mattered to them – their constituents, not the political party they’re running with! Indeed, when you look at the Irish Parliament (Dail) results in 2002 (.PDF file), 13 out of 166 seats were won by independent candidates.

How many politicians in our present system vote against their party policies because the people in their ridings have a contrary view to the party? Zero. It’s because of the voting system, and the strength of political parties. BC-STV changes the whole dynamic of the game – these people that believe their views are closer in line with the people in their ridings can vote against their party’s position and know that they will not be deeply compromising their chances for re-election.

The establishment is going to try to convince the public that their ‘experience in BC politics’ tells them that BC-STV is a “bad thing”. They will also say that only people with a PhD in mathematics are ‘capable’ of counting the votes, so the system is garbage (which is both untrue and a fallacious argument). Thus you, the clueless common folk, should vote no along with the elite. This smug argument is not going to win the “no” side any more votes. My guess is that British Columbians will see through these phony arguments and vote yes for STV, just like how the Irish and Australians have for the past 60 years.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 28th, 2005 and is filed under Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.