Tuesday 26 March 2013

First past the post is criminal

The purpose of democracy is to make sure the government (if there is a government) is accountable to the people. A representative democracy enables people to choose who votes in parliament on their behalf. If there is direct democracy we vote directly on legislation as in the case of a referendum. But with the first-past-the-post system of representative democracy only the first candidate will sit in parliament and so we must vote tactically... if we seek to maximise the impact of our vote. In this way we are not being given full access to parliament because we having to compromise our political views in order to make sure our vote is not wasted. Only with proportional representation can we feel that we have been given every opportunity to have our views expressed. It is unlikely that our views will match precisely with either of the two dominant fptp parties and so only with pr are our views expressed. If we have not been given the full expression of our political views (where it would be possible... as with pr) then we have been disenfranchised and oppressed. First past the post is a form of political oppression and as such it is a crime. It is a crime to deny to the people the full expression of their political desires in government if it is possible to give them a voice. To use first past the post is a criminal act because it gives people less choice politically which is to stifle their political expression and their ability to make the government accountable.

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