Friday 5 December 2014

The government is not popular

Democracy is the mechanism by which we fix our political problems and by definition, we are not able to fix a democratic system that does't work.

The government that uses first-past-the-post claims that it is democratic and gives the state a mandate to rule. If the government doesn't use democracy then it is illegitimate and tyrannical but if some form of democracy is used then it is valid. So fptp serves as an alibi for the state to defend itself against accusations of non-democracy and tyranny. But it is not democratic and so the state is using a false alibi. The problem we have with this is that even if the state is guilty of not being democratic there is nothing anyone else can do about it because, by definition, punishment for illegality comes from the state, if not it is not the state.

The state will not punish itself for using only first-past-the-post if that is the system which it likes to use so then there is nothing anyone can do about it because the law is enforced by the state and the state will not act against itself if it chooses to retain fptp. There is nothing anyone can do about fptp (other than to express their outrage) because only the state can force a change in the law.

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