POSTED RESPONSE TO A COLUMN BY JEFFREY SIMPSON IN TORONTO'S GLOBE AND MAIL
"A Congress
without compromise serves no one"
Yes, indeed.
But Mr. Simpson is spitting against the wind.
Extreme and divisive attitudes absolutely characterize
United States' politics, the same kind of politics Harper works diligently
towards establishing in Canada.
But the principle in Mr. Simpson's quote is only in part
true.
The Congress can serve no genuine purpose for the community
at large, but it perfectly serves special interests.
The battle between the individual (or regional) interest and
the community (or national) interest is an old one for any legislative body,
but once you allow the special-interest payment for government though campaign
contributions - which is exactly what the U.S. has and what Harper works
towards - then the community interest will virtually always loose.
It is almost an unwritten rule of representative government.
__________________________
“The political stalemate
in the U.S. should give pause to those who clamour for an elected upper chamber
in Canada.”
A good point.
And with Harper working towards special-interest financing
of elections, the situation would only be more pathetic.
_________________________________
“The problem in the
USA is and always has been that it is not a multi-party democracy, but a
two-party power sharing agreement that gives special interest groups enormous
power to sway political decisions by promising to deliver blocks of voters over
single issues. It does not matter who is in power.”
Also a good point.
It is a duopoly in politics, and everything true of
duopolies in economics is true in politics.
