Partisan politics will doom reform attempts

Re: “You have a say on the way we vote,” Nov. 24.

Our obsolete first-past-the-post electoral system, which allows far too many into government without a majority of votes, is not the only obstacle to true democracy.

Partisan politics, enforced by the party whip, will doom any attempt at democratic reform to failure.

During political campaigns, too many candidates simply parrot talking points downloaded from their party’s central election office. Professional campaign advisers generate strategies designed to manipulate mass thinking and emotion.

There is far too much power in the hands of political-party insiders, many of them unelected, who dictate opportunistic policy designed solely to gain political points.

True representative democracy starts at the nomination process in each riding. The party leaders and their unelected advisers must not interfere in any way, and must accept the will of the local riding association. What each party proposes and how we will pay for it must be honestly presented for our consideration, without the confusion generated by attack ads.

The election process must at least ensure that no one wins without a majority of votes. In government, the fairly elected must be free to represent the wishes of their constituents, which can only happen with the absence of the party whip, and the presence of something called integrity.

Graeme Gardiner Sidney