I've never been quite satisfied with STV because I don't think it's radical enough. To me, the fundimental problem is that there are many people in a district who aren't satisfied with their representative and the converse situation that a representative tends to serve the ideology of the constituency that elected xir rather than the entire philosophical diversity of xir district. STV doesn't elimintate this regret, it just creates a system where (probably) a larger number of people each have a (probably) smaller regret.
I don't think that any implementation of a republic would eliminate the regret, but in the 21st century I don't see why one couldn't switch to a system more like a pure democracy, where each individual in the electorate would select any representitive they wanted to be their proxy in Ottawa and each MP would wield power in proportion to the number of citizens who selected them. I would suspect that this would largely eliminate parties because you could "elect" the charismatic leader even if she lives on the other side of the country rather than having to support someone you didn't know who happened to be in her party. And the other big problems with parties is that you're never quite sure who is invited to the back-room meeting where the platform is being hashed out. But in a system like mine the fight would take place in the open. Mary Jones would stand up and say "I'm largely in line with Frank Smith's conservative economic views, except that I take a Bible-based stand against gay marriage and teaching evolution and whatnot," and Frank Smith's supporters would or wouldn't switch their votes over to Mary Jones as they wished. (Oh yeah, the other fun part is that you would cast a vote by filling out a form at the post office whenever you wanted, so I'm also throwing a wrench at elections, campaigning, and willfully disrespecting your constituents because you know that they'll forget before you'll have to face them next.)
I guess there isn't anything much like that on the horizon, although maybe the PEI system wouldn't piss me off too badly. I suppose all your parties are united in the notion that whatever reform comes out is party-centric, which is both predictable and a shame.
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regna
(no subject)
Date: 2005-10-15 09:15 am (UTC)I don't think that any implementation of a republic would eliminate the regret, but in the 21st century I don't see why one couldn't switch to a system more like a pure democracy, where each individual in the electorate would select any representitive they wanted to be their proxy in Ottawa and each MP would wield power in proportion to the number of citizens who selected them. I would suspect that this would largely eliminate parties because you could "elect" the charismatic leader even if she lives on the other side of the country rather than having to support someone you didn't know who happened to be in her party. And the other big problems with parties is that you're never quite sure who is invited to the back-room meeting where the platform is being hashed out. But in a system like mine the fight would take place in the open. Mary Jones would stand up and say "I'm largely in line with Frank Smith's conservative economic views, except that I take a Bible-based stand against gay marriage and teaching evolution and whatnot," and Frank Smith's supporters would or wouldn't switch their votes over to Mary Jones as they wished. (Oh yeah, the other fun part is that you would cast a vote by filling out a form at the post office whenever you wanted, so I'm also throwing a wrench at elections, campaigning, and willfully disrespecting your constituents because you know that they'll forget before you'll have to face them next.)
I guess there isn't anything much like that on the horizon, although maybe the PEI system wouldn't piss me off too badly. I suppose all your parties are united in the notion that whatever reform comes out is party-centric, which is both predictable and a shame.