Democracy has been producing some perverse results recently. A prime example is our neighbour to the south. In 2016, the American people elected Hillary Clinton, one of the most qualified candidates they have ever been offered for president, but they got Donald Trump, undoubtedly the least qualified candidate they have
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I Am a Democrat … and an Elitist
There is much talk about populism these days. The term has a variety of definitions, but the general idea is that society is separated into two groups at odds with one another—the mass of the people and a corrupt elite. The populist leader claims to represent the will of the
Continue readingReferendums or Citizens’ Assemblies?
Holding a referendum on whether to remain or leave the European Union was one of the dumber decisions in the long history of the British political class, as is becoming increasingly apparent. Obviously, when David Cameron took his fateful decision, he hadn’t the slightest idea of what his Conservative Party
Continue readingDon’t give up on the Senate, Mr. Harper
It wouldn’t be surprising if Prime Minister Harper was in a bit of a funk over the Supreme Court’s decision on the Senate this week. The Court unanimously rejected his government’s attempt to transform the Senate into an elected body and to set term limits, saying that such basic changes
Continue readingThe Senate as citizens’ assembly?
The best idea I’ve seen yet about what to to do with our constitutional albatross, the Senate, short of abolishing it, appeared in a recent issue of The Tyee. The article suggests random selection of “ordinary citizens to sit as senators for a limited period of time (perhaps one or
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