Thursday 13 December 2012

The state have an obligation to provide democracy

Sometimes people don't like to look after themselves. For example many times when communism has ended there have been those who were upset that the government is now no longer going to look after them. And it is the same way with first-past-the-post. The two parties which emerge in a fptp system have become understood and familiar to many of the voting public to such an extent that if this duopoly is threatened people will complain. Just as people complained when communism was abolished. People like the security and familiarity of the fptp system. People fear freedom whether it is freedom from communism or freedom from fptp. But we do not have a right to pander to our (irrational) fears where politics is concerned because it affects not only ourselves but everyone else. We do not have the right to deprive someone of freedom from communism simply because we ourselves prefer it. We have no right to make someone else a slave because we like being a slave. And so it is with fptp. We do not have the right to deprive other people of a proportional voting system simply because we ourselves are content with fptp and do not want change. We are owed by the government a fair and proportional voting system otherwise the government has no justification to exist. The government is illegitimate if it does not provide a proportional system. There is no government which provides a fptp voting system because such a government is illegitimate. Only pr governments are legitimate. Proportional representation is the only legitimate form of government. Since no government is able to seek a (legitimate) mandate from first past the post we can say that fptp doesn't exist as a valid form of democracy. No government is legitimised by fptp.

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