Majority Rules…. Except When it Doesn’t

There is a growing trend in both Canada and the United States for political parties to completely ignore, or even insult, large portions of the electorate because they will never vote for their party anyway. This trend is dangerous and undermines democracy.

The other day I read this article, published at People Politico, about how Republican Presidential candidates are insulting a large portion of the American public – the same public that they need to get them elected. I didn’t think too much about it at the time, but it stuck with me. When I got to thinking about it, what really struck me is that we have the same thing going on in Canada. Here, the Conservative Party (basically, our version of the Republican Party) knows that about 60-70% of the population would never vote for them, so they completely ignore us, and only govern the country for those who may vote for them. This is extremely dangerous, because now you have a government working not for the best of the entire country, but only for the best for their own supporters.

The article, entitled "Presidential Candidates: We Are ALL Americans," speaks about how Republican candidates have said continually made comments that are either offensive to a large group of American voters or made promises against the will of a majority of voters. These comments range from saying that liberals are trying to destroy the country (Herman Cain) to claiming that Obama and those he associates with are anti-American (Michelle Bachman). If it isn’t enough to insult a large group of voters, does it make sense to take a stance that most Americans are against, such as being against same-sex marriage (when 53% of Americans think same sex marriage should be legal)?

In Canada, we have been dealing with this issue for some time now in our Government. The current governing party, the Conservative Party, routinely insults or ignores the will of the majority of the country. Since the Conservatives know that 60-70% of the population would never vote for them, they simply ignore them. In the Canadian multi-party electoral system, (we have 5 parties with representation in the government) a single party only needs about 40% of popular support to win a majority government (roughly the equivalent to an American party having control of Presidency, Senate and House of Representatives).  In the most recent election, in 2011, the Conservative Party got just under 40% of the popular vote, which was enough to give them a majority in Parliament. However, since less than 62% of the population voted, only about 25% of the population voted for them.

The Conservatives know that I will never vote for them, so I am ignored. They know that those who are a part of the Occupy protests will never vote for them, so they are ignored. They know that those who are homeless, destitute or downtrodden will never vote for them, so they ignore them. Their actions speak to the fact that they are ignoring the will of most Canadians. They are pushing for harsher prison sentences for minor crimes (building new prisons along the way) even though most Canadians know that this will not prevent crime. They are spending more on the military and clearly taking Canada away from a peacekeeping country to being an aggressive supporter of American military policy, even those most Canadians oppose this. They are delaying action on climate change, even when most Canadians insist upon action. They continue to export poisonous asbestos, even while Canadians oppose it. But it doesn’t matter to them. They don’t need the votes of most Canadians. They only need the votes of 25%, and so pleases those 25% is all they care about.

It seems the same thought pattern is taking hold of the Republican Party in the States. This cannot be allowed to happen. Governments must be accountable to all the people, not only the select few who vote for them and provide them with money.  Any politician who willfully ignore or insults a portion of the electorate is pandering to a select group within the population. When a minority is controlling the agenda for the entire population, democracy does not exist.

Interesting Related Articles:

• The Common Progressive has an article about how Newt Gingrich told a gay voter that he should vote for Obama - yet another example of a Presidential candidate refusing support from one portion of the population to pander to a different portion.

What Kind of Friends Does Israel Need?

At the Republican candidates’ debate in South Carolina on November 12, Michele Bachmann declared that Israel doesn’t see Barrack Obama as a friend. And isn’t it true that Israel needs friends, right now?

They need friends to prevent Palestine from joining UN agencies, such as UNESCO. They certainly don’t want Palestine to start making friends at the UN - after all, some of Israel’s friends might like Palestine better than Israel themselves, if they got to know them. The US has been a great friend in this matter, having withdrawn funding from UNESCO for making Palestine a member. As an aside, Obama has also promised to veto a Palestinian application to join the UN as a full member.

They need friends to help safeguard their boarders from activists bringing food and medical supplies to Gaza. If they are going to keep boarding ships in international waters, and detaining the passengers, then they will need their friends to continue to look the other way. America and other countries, like Canada, have been great friends by discouraging their citizens from being part of these international activist missions and suggesting Israel has every right to detain those taken in international waters.

They need their friends to support their continued expansion of settlements on Palestinian land. According to the BBC, half a million Israelis live in more than 100 settlements that are considered illegal under international law. Last February, the US vetoed a UN Security Council resolution to condemn Israel for these illegal settlements, even though all 14 other members of the Security Council voted in favour and over 130 counties supported the resolution. America, under Obama, is certainly a friend of Israel when it comes to the illegal settlements in occupied Palestinian land.

I believe that there are two types of friends. There is the type of friend who will stand behind you no matter what, back you up no matter what and fight beside you for anything. The US, and Barack Obama, are friends like this for Israel. However, an even more important friend is the one that stands with you when you are being reasonable, but stands up to you when you aren’t. This is the type of friend that tells you when you are being unreasonable, and makes you face it and change. This is the type of friend that stages an intervention when it is clear that you have a problem. This is the truest friend and this is the kind of friend that Israel needs right now.

Maybe, just maybe, when Michele Bachmann implied that Israel needed a better friend than Barrack Obama, she meant that they needed this second kind of friend. One that will stand with Israel against the very real threats it faces, but at the same time, remind Israel that it has a responsibility to peace. One that will support and uphold Israel’s right to defend itself, but remind Israel that its rights don’t  trump others’ right to freedom. One that will celebrate Israel’s place in the world, while insisting that it recognize Palestine’s place as well. I hope very much that this is the friend that Michele Bachman wants to be for Israel - but I doubt very much that it is true.