Electoral Reform

[kandrathe]

In today's news I finally saw the headline I have been waiting some time to see. :w00t:

I will get to cast my vote for some long overdue electoral reform. :D

The First Past the Post system (FPP) in use throughout North America is antiquated and has (over and over again) given us governments that do not reflect the popular vote. The Mixed Member Proportional system (MMP) that is recommended will do much to improve that problem. I have followed the issue of electoral reform for years now, watching as it s l o w l y has been working its way through the procedural gymnastics needed to get itself to my ballot box. (I just did a search on this board, and I am on record discussing this back in 2004.:rolleyes:)
And, next fall, I will have my chance to change my world - for the better. :cool:

It is not all good. This is how, if I recall correctly, an ultra-conservative (Jörg Haider) extreme rightist movement took control of Austria for a time. A majority (even slim ones) guarantees that the political movement that is the most mainstream will succeed. My locality is pretty much divided and sways between the major parties, however, most of the time what happens is deadlocks. The minority party spends most of its time trying to prevent the majority from passing any legislation. It is frustrating, but I am reminded now how beneficial deadlocks can be. Our state just finished the year with a 2.1 billion dollar surplus (meaning the people paid in more taxes than were consumed), and the current progressive legislature is trying to raise the tax rates across the board to collect an additional 3.1 billion. Yes, that's correct. We over paid, so they decided to collect more.

I believe there are at least four main problems with politics. Number one is the ignorance and apathy of the voters. Number two is that politician is now viewed as a career instead of a public service. And, number three is that there is not transparency in the monetary contributions given to candidates. Number four is that the laws and the constitution have been ignored for a brand of progressive moral prerogatives.

In the USA, I think we might be watching the beginning of the end of democracy. Where I live, 30% of the people pay no taxes at all, and 1/2 of those actually receive a payment at tax time (low income tax credit) for being low income. The voting trend of those non-paying voters is toward the party that keeps them off the tax roles, and the party that panders to them tries to increase the number of people who pay zero taxes to as high a level as is possible. So you see over time, a majority would be formed and be controlled by a group who do not pay for the government services they consume. This is a path toward financial ruin and defacto communism, where large complicit corporations (corporations not interested in capitalism, or free markets) fund politics and choose their own self sustaining puppet politicians. People believe that corporations are all "capitalist" and in favor of democracy, but it is not true. In my opinion, progressive taxation is a violation of the equal protection clause of the Constitution. Citizens should be treated equally, even in taxation. If you want to tax incomes, then all incomes should be taxed equally, and the yoke and lash of government should be felt equally by all.

It sounds far fetched, I know. I am concerned though when we openly allow and accept wealthy foreigners dedicating wealth toward influencing the politics of a nation (mine or yours). I am reminded of our revolutionary past when James Otis said, "taxation without representation is tyranny".