I'm going to come right out and say it. I just don't get politics.
I've been keeping a loose eye on events happening south of the border, and I still don't get how things are done down there. As nearly as I can understand it, delegates from each party in each state get together and vote for a nominee. Who voted for the delegates in the first place? Who is going to determine that those delegates vote for the person that the people he or she represents really wants?
Of course, I have the same questions about the electoral college. In the last couple of presidential elections, I kept hearing about how Bush was getting more of the electoral college votes, but less than a third of the popular vote. In a two person race, is that really possible? If so, I have to question just how representative the electoral system is.
Then there is the whole business of voting machines. Come on, people! Why do you need a machine to vote. You get a piece of paper with the names of the candiates clearly printed, and put an X by the one you want. If you want something that counts faster, just make a scanner to read the marks on the paper ballots, like they used to do in school with multiple choice tests. It's pretty hard for a number 2 pencil to break down. If one of the candidates doesn't agree with the count, they can supervise a recount, along with a neutral party.
As with all things that human beings do, we have complicated the way we govern ourselves so much, we actually have to send people to university to explain it to the rest of us. I always thought it was supposed to be one citizen, one vote, and the most votes won. Isn't that the idea behind democracy?
Then again, here in Canada we have an equally absurd system, where there are multiple parties, each trying to pull the country in sixteen billion different ways. Even within the parties there is no unity of direction. People sometimes wonder why it takes so long to get anything done. It's like the old adage says, there are two things people should never see being made, hot dogs and laws. It makes both of them not fit for consumption.
To be honest, I would just as soon give the partisan system a pass. Candidates should have to stand on their own merits, propose legislation and then vote on it as the citizens he or she represents want. No more "party whips". That is democracy in it's truest form.
Lobby groups are another topic all together. Maybe another day.
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I agree with that statement of no one should see how hot dogs and laws are made Lol...To a degree. If we don't know how are we supposed to choose who is the right person to govern us as a society? The democratic system we have is a little messed up, and personally, I don't like the 'first past the post' system we have in place. But if we were to use the true form of democracy, it would take even longer for things to get done.
Either way, humans are suseptable creatures and easy to manipulate and corrupt.
There are many things I would like to see done in the world. Like doing something about third/fifth world debt. Things like human trafficking, and the issues of AIDS, and eduacation and...the list goes on. There's only so much we can do at one time, yet all these issues seem to be linked. It's how to get to the roots that's the problem. We're in such a tangled mess its hard to see where anything started.
Many are sheep. We have to be careful not to vote for wolves. We should vote for dogs - loyal to their masters (us) but friendly to a fault, at least most of them.
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