{"id":1339,"date":"2009-09-09T00:05:12","date_gmt":"2009-09-09T04:05:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/s265039441.onlinehome.us\/philpaine\/?p=1339"},"modified":"2018-08-08T14:53:05","modified_gmt":"2018-08-08T18:53:05","slug":"wednesday-september-9-2009-what-you-get-for-three-dollars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=1339","title":{"rendered":"Wednesday, September 9, 2009 \u2014 What You Get For Three Dollars"},"content":{"rendered":"

I always get sus\u00adpi\u00adcious when I hear a sin\u00adgle phrase repeat\u00aded exces\u00adsive\u00adly in the media. Late\u00adly, the sus\u00adpect phrase is \u201cnobody wants an election\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

Our creepy Con\u00adser\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtive Prime Min\u00adis\u00adter, Stephen Harp\u00ader, has been inton\u00ading this phrase since the pos\u00adsi\u00adbil\u00adi\u00adty of over\u00adturn\u00ading his gov\u00adern\u00adment appeared on the hori\u00adzon. But the oppo\u00adsi\u00adtion Lib\u00ader\u00adals also used it to avoid a con\u00adfronta\u00adtion they did not feel ready to win. In fact, the Lib\u00ader\u00adals wast\u00aded their big oppor\u00adtu\u00adni\u00adty, with typ\u00adi\u00adcal cow\u00adardice, and Harp\u00ader prob\u00ada\u00adbly thinks he can win if the cards are flopped now. But the asser\u00adtions of politi\u00adcians don\u2019t con\u00adcern me. They are not reliable.<\/span><\/p>\n

What con\u00adcerns me is the cho\u00adrus of agree\u00adment that echoed through the media. It is now accept\u00aded as uni\u00adver\u00adsal wis\u00addom that an elec\u00adtion is a ter\u00adri\u00adble ordeal that the Cana\u00addi\u00adan pub\u00adlic should resent endur\u00ading. This bizarre notion is almost invari\u00adably accom\u00adpa\u00adnied by the asser\u00adtion that elec\u00adtions are \u201cexpen\u00adsive\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, of course, every politi\u00adcian in pow\u00ader would nat\u00adu\u00adral\u00adly pre\u00adfer to not be account\u00adable to the peo\u00adple. Stephen Harp\u00ader, in par\u00adtic\u00adu\u00adlar, would love to be declared Prime Min\u00adis\u00adter For Life. In his heart of hearts, he envies and admires the geron\u00adto\u00adcrat\u00adic gang\u00adsters of the Com\u00admu\u00adnist Par\u00adty in Chi\u00adna. Noth\u00ading else is to be expect\u00aded from the kind of crea\u00adtures who worm their way into our Par\u00adlia\u00adment. But it is extreme\u00adly fright\u00aden\u00ading to me, if it comes to be believed by the Cana\u00addi\u00adan peo\u00adple that elec\u00adtions are an ago\u00adniz\u00ading, trau\u00admat\u00adic ordeal that should be avoid\u00aded at all costs. It\u2019s pro\u00adfound\u00adly irre\u00adspon\u00adsi\u00adble of the media to pro\u00adpa\u00adgan\u00addize this view.<\/span><\/p>\n

Exact\u00adly what is the rea\u00adson\u00ading behind this claim that nobody wants (with the unspo\u00adken impli\u00adca\u00adtion that nobody should want) to hold an elec\u00adtion? What exact\u00adly is the unpleas\u00adant thing that peo\u00adple are sup\u00adposed to fear? The oppor\u00adtu\u00adni\u00adty to hold their politi\u00adcians account\u00adable? Nobody is oblig\u00aded to go to the polls, if they don\u2019t want to. The hold\u00ading of an elec\u00adtion does not impinge on any\u00adone\u2019s pri\u00advate life in any annoy\u00ading way, places no unwant\u00aded oblig\u00ada\u00adtion, nor does it require any greater effort than tak\u00ading a paid hour off of work to mark a few x\u2019s on a piece of paper. Why is every jour\u00adnal\u00adist con\u00advinced that we dread this? Is it because they believe that we, the peo\u00adple, are so stu\u00adpid that we can\u2019t bear to be forced to think about pub\u00adlic poli\u00adcies and make deci\u00adsions? Poor, poor, stu\u00adpid us\u2026We should be pro\u00adtect\u00aded from hav\u00ading to make deci\u00adsions, because we\u2019re so dumb, it would hurt our poor lit\u00adtle heads to have to mark a bal\u00adlot.\u2026 Deci\u00adsions are best left to those nat\u00adur\u00adal genius\u00ades, pro\u00adfes\u00adsion\u00adal politi\u00adcians and the media.<\/span><\/p>\n

The media harp on the lamest of sup\u00adport\u00ading argu\u00adments for this the\u00ado\u00adry: the idea that elec\u00adtions are \u201cexpen\u00adsive\u201d. In the last few months, I\u2019ve noticed that almost every time that \u201cnobody wants an elec\u00adtion\u201d is trot\u00adted out, it is accom\u00adpa\u00adnied by some allu\u00adsion to the expense of hold\u00ading elections.<\/span><\/p>\n

I cal\u00adcu\u00adlate that every Cana\u00addi\u00adan is called upon to spend three dol\u00adlars per annum to defray the cost of hold\u00ading fed\u00ader\u00adal elec\u00adtions. Three dol\u00adlars a year! This does not strike me as being an out\u00adra\u00adgeous price to pay to live in free\u00addom, when one con\u00adsid\u00aders that some of us have risked, and some\u00adtimes sac\u00adri\u00adficed, their lives to secure it. The cost of a sin\u00adgle fed\u00ader\u00adal elec\u00adtion is insignif\u00adi\u00adcant com\u00adpared to any of the Con\u00adser\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtive gov\u00adern\u00admen\u00adt\u2019s pork-bar\u00adrel give-aways, not to men\u00adtion the bil\u00adlions of dol\u00adlars of bud\u00adget sur\u00adplus that they pissed away just before a reces\u00adsion. Yet jour\u00adnal\u00adists insist that we must bit\u00adter\u00adly resent spend\u00ading three dol\u00adlars apiece for democ\u00adra\u00adcy. I, on the oth\u00ader hand, rash\u00adly pro\u00adpose that we spend a lit\u00adtle more.<\/span><\/p>\n

There\u2019s no rea\u00adson why we should\u00adn\u2019t have fed\u00ader\u00adal elec\u00adtions every year. Our par\u00adlia\u00admen\u00adtary sys\u00adtem could eas\u00adi\u00adly accom\u00admo\u00addate the change. The abil\u00adi\u00adty to over\u00adturn a gov\u00adern\u00adment by a vote of no con\u00adfi\u00addence would remain the same. The lim\u00adit of five years for an unchal\u00adlenged admin\u00adis\u00adtra\u00adtion would sim\u00adply be reduced to one year, and elec\u00adtions would become a rou\u00adtine event, with the nor\u00admal ones held on a reg\u00adu\u00adlar and con\u00adve\u00adnient date. Polling sta\u00adtions would become more famil\u00adiar and per\u00adma\u00adnent, but the pro\u00adce\u00addure would remain the same.<\/span><\/p>\n

What would change would be that elec\u00adtions would cease to be an idi\u00adot\u00adic cir\u00adcus of infan\u00adtile name-call\u00ading and but\u00adton-push\u00ading. The \u201ccri\u00adsis\u201d atmos\u00adphere gen\u00ader\u00adat\u00aded by the media would not be as con\u00advinc\u00ading. We would have to focus more on what mat\u00adters: what should pub\u00adlic pol\u00adi\u00adcy be and are those in pow\u00ader doing their jobs prop\u00ader\u00adly? Fre\u00adquent elec\u00adtions would pose no threat to those mem\u00adbers of par\u00adlia\u00adment who are hon\u00adest and com\u00adpe\u00adtent. It is the brain\u00adless par\u00adty hacks, the cor\u00adrupt, and the incom\u00adpe\u00adtent nin\u00adnies who would fear los\u00ading their seats. A par\u00adty in major\u00adi\u00adty pow\u00ader, no longer ensured a carte blanche to do what\u00adev\u00ader it wants for years, would have to face the pos\u00adsi\u00adbil\u00adi\u00adty of see\u00ading its major\u00adi\u00adty evap\u00ado\u00adrate over short peri\u00adods of time. Minor\u00adi\u00adty gov\u00adern\u00adments would have to prove their cred\u00adi\u00adbil\u00adi\u00adty day to day. Oppo\u00adsi\u00adtion par\u00adties, with a shake-up from the peo\u00adple always in the imme\u00addi\u00adate future, would not have to engage in arcane cal\u00adcu\u00adla\u00adtions of exact\u00adly when it is most advan\u00adta\u00adgeous to chal\u00adlenge the gov\u00adern\u00adment. The built-in advan\u00adtage of incum\u00adbents would be weak\u00adened. No par\u00adty could afford to stuff par\u00adlia\u00adment with brain\u00adless toad\u00adies and yes-men. The arro\u00adgant, anti-demo\u00adc\u00adra\u00adt\u00adic \u201clead\u00ader\u00adship\u201d cult of some\u00adone like Stephen Harp\u00ader would be much more dif\u00adfi\u00adcult to main\u00adtain. Pow\u00ader would tend to shift back to the floor of Par\u00adlia\u00adment, revers\u00ading its sin\u00adis\u00adter, dan\u00adger\u00adous and pro\u00adfound\u00adly un-Cana\u00addi\u00adan shift to the Prime Min\u00adis\u00adter\u2019s office.<\/span><\/p>\n

A par\u00adlia\u00admen\u00adtary gov\u00adern\u00adment should be an exec\u00adu\u00adtive board that we, the share\u00adhold\u00aders of the nation, employ to car\u00adry out pub\u00adlic pol\u00adi\u00adcy \u2014 pol\u00adi\u00adcy that we deter\u00admine, not them. They should be sub\u00adject to annu\u00adal review, and we should have the pow\u00ader to fire them when\u00adev\u00ader we want. That\u2019s what democ\u00adra\u00adcy is for. We should not set\u00adtle on a half-baked, half-assed, half-democ\u00adra\u00adcy when we can have the real thing.<\/span><\/p>\n

At the moment, under the cur\u00adrent sys\u00adtem, we will prob\u00ada\u00adbly end up stuck with the Con\u00adser\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtives for anoth\u00ader three or four years. Harp\u00ader is adept at manip\u00adu\u00adlat\u00ading the fear of elec\u00adtions in the oppo\u00adsi\u00adtion, and the con\u00adtempt for them among the media. He called a snap elec\u00adtion when he need\u00aded one. When the reces\u00adsion (a prod\u00aduct of crack\u00adpot eco\u00adnom\u00adic the\u00ado\u00adries that Harp\u00ader pro\u00adfess\u00ades) start\u00aded to hit us hard, the oppo\u00adsi\u00adtion had an oppor\u00adtu\u00adni\u00adty to turn him out, but they dithered and pan\u00adicked. Now that oppor\u00adtu\u00adni\u00adty is prob\u00ada\u00adbly passed. This is a tragedy for Cana\u00adda, because Harper\u2019s gov\u00adern\u00adment is pro\u00adfound\u00adly anti-demo\u00adc\u00adra\u00adt\u00adic, con\u00adtemp\u00adtu\u00adous of the peo\u00adple, fis\u00adcal\u00adly incom\u00adpe\u00adtent, and moral\u00adly cor\u00adrupt. If peo\u00adple grasped that hold\u00ading fre\u00adquent elec\u00adtions is their best defense against bad politi\u00adcians and bad par\u00adties, we would\u00adn\u2019t be in this mess.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I always get sus\u00adpi\u00adcious when I hear a sin\u00adgle phrase repeat\u00aded exces\u00adsive\u00adly in the media. Late\u00adly, the sus\u00adpect phrase is \u201cnobody wants an elec\u00adtion\u201d. Our creepy Con\u00adser\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtive Prime Min\u00adis\u00adter, Stephen Harp\u00ader, has been inton\u00ading this phrase since the pos\u00adsi\u00adbil\u00adi\u00adty of overturning \u2026<\/p>\n

Read more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-blog","category-ar-blog-2009"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1339"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1339\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7949,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1339\/revisions\/7949"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}