Comments on: on democratic leader’s debates

By: Scott Leslie

Scott Leslie — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 05:45:21 +0000

how’s this for acting the party shill – you can always express your frustration by donating some funds to the Greens at https://greenparty.ca/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&id=1&source=TakeActionPage as per the email that showed up in my inbox just now.

By: dnorman

dnorman — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 02:58:34 +0000

the debates are gong shows up here, too. scripted, controlled, sterile. that doesn’t mean we can’t demand better.

representation was adopted because we couldn’t all travel to Ottawa (or Washington, or London, or…) and fit in a room to listen and cast a ballot. those physical constraints are not valid anymore. we can have a true democracy if we want it.

unfortunately, people really don’t seem to want a true democracy. it would be too much work. much easier to forfeit any real voice to “the government” (even though _we_ are “the government”).

I’ll stop before I descend into full-on rant mode, though… 🙂

By: David Esrati

David Esrati — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 02:54:38 +0000

D’Arcy- I’m not sure what you people up North have for “debates”- but down here, it’s nothing more than a game show. No back and forth- no questions from one candidate to another. The art of “debate” is all but forgotten.
We too, have people who believe they should decide who gets to debate- hell, we have stupid rules that prevent people from being on the ballot, or having their party listed next to their names. What people forget is we don’t really have democracy- we have representation. When we vote, we actually give our voice to someone else to act for us by proxy- and then we can’t sue them for false advertising.
My best indicator of who is worthy of my vote anymore- is who can raise the most money in the smallest increments. If the candidate’s average donor is giving $25- I trust them more than someone getting an average donation of $1000.

By: dnorman

dnorman — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 02:39:47 +0000

Yeah. Lessig’s definitely onto something big with his fight against corruption of the political process. Allowing candidates to dictate who gets to participate, out of fear of losing advertising revenue for the networks carrying the “debates” is just plain reprehensible.

By: Scott Leslie

Scott Leslie — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 23:41:51 +0000

Little good that it will do, you can always try to http://www.demanddemocraticdebates.ca/ but I wouldn’t hold your breath. We’ve been demanding this for 3 elections now at least to no avail.

By: Raj

Raj — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 21:43:30 +0000

It seems to me this whole campaign is going to be like that – you have to wonder about Harper saying things like that because the Greens are “in” using the same rules that allowed the Reform Party in when they were new and had a member after someone crossed the floor.

I’m becoming so disillusioned with both federal and provincial politics that it is not even funny… but maybe because Alberta is the bluest place on the planet.