Voting will solve nothing
But I still just voted. A fast trip through the realities behind electoral politics in Canada in 2021.
Disclosures; I am a Canadian living in the federal riding of Spadina Fort York in Toronto (SpaFY). I am also a member of the NDP and even hold a very minor position within it. Of course, my views given here are mine and have nothing to do with NDP policies and positions.
Yet I am also an advocate of abolishing electoral democracy in favour of a deliberative system. I do not believe voting will solve the very serious problems currently facing society in Canada and over most of the world. So, why do I participate in a political party or even bother to vote?
The best answer is often the simplest one. In this case it is; why not? Does refusing to vote make you think you are too cool for all this nonsense? Nobody notices you.
I am sure everyone has heard the rationales for not voting.
There is the old W.C. Fields line; “Don’t vote. It just encourages them”. W.C. Fields was a professional comedian. Not voting will not discourage ‘them’.
Some say; “I don’t know anything about these people.” Good government is about ideas, not about personalities. An authentic democratic process appoints the most qualified people and removes them if they fail to serve the public interest.
“There is nothing to vote for”. If you have the idea that voting is supposed to bring into office a government that actually serves public interests, then of course there will never be anything to vote for as long as we are under capitalism. Any party in office which tries to promote public interest over elite interest is going to have a very hard time.
Super leftist pointy heads will talk about “electoralist delusions.” Yes, the idea that we really have a democracy is a delusion. The idea that we will achieve some ideal government when the people rise up and put them into power, is also delusional.
There is an old and true saying; “The biggest danger to democracy is the idea that we already have it.” We do not live in a democracy. The idea that this fuss about voting is real democracy is a danger to the development of a real democracy.
There is another very true saying; “The history of the past two centuries has been the rise of capitalism, the rise of democracy, and the rise of propaganda to protect capitalism from democracy.” As many commentators have made clear, successfully implementing a real democracy will require dismantling capitalism. That will require defeating the propaganda/perceptual management machine which capitalism has built around us and continuous to refine. That will be a formidable task.
It has also been well noted that the kind of reforms needed to solve the present crises will not come about through any kind of legal or electoral process. The old order will have to be forced out of the way. The question then becomes; “Then replace it with what?”
This is what the capitalist oligarchic propaganda/population control system is really good at. They know they can not really get most people to accept that their way is the only way. At least, not when it is becoming obvious that the system is on a downward spiral with no way to pull out.
All they need to do is make it impossible for people to agree about any alternative, or to work together to achieve one. This comes largely from the way people are educated, or rather, diseducated. A big part of this is the fetishization of ‘debate’ and the idea that there is “no one truth”.
This is a lot like the strategy of the old “Yahweh” deity in that work of creation and origin mythology called; “The book of Genesis”. Instead of causing their human herd to speak in different languages so they could not work together, our present day herd masters have taught us to think in different and contradictory ideas. The idea is drilled in that there are many small truths, and you are treated like a lunatic if you say that the truth is what it is, everywhere, always, for everyone.
The answer to this ‘babel’ technique is to teach more people to think critically and scientifically. The oligarchy’s answer to that is to make “critical and scientific thinking” mean something else. A good example of this at work is ‘climate science’ and ‘critical race theory’, both perfect examples of ‘divide and control’ cognitive agency, as far from science and critical thinking as could be.
The internet has become the modern tower of babel and babble, largely displacing ‘free press’ and electoral politics in that role. People increasingly deny that politicians have any real power at all. All elections are about is politicians auditioning to be the oligarchy’s figureheads. Real decisions are made by unseen entities.
Yes, politicians, especially party leaders, are figureheads, but it is not that simple. The biggest delusion cynical people have about politics is that the ruling class is a monolith. In fact, it is full of factions fighting to preserve their interests against other elite interests and this has been getting more intense as the system fails.
It always baffles me why political observers are so incapable of seeing this. It is the key to understanding politics, to seeing what is going on. Political parties are not all the same; they are fronts for very different policies backed by different factions.
The elites generally have had a mutual understanding to not let the common herd see their conflicts; their need to maintain dominance usually overrides their disputes with each other. However, they are increasingly using not just political parties, but internet mobs and even street mobs, to contest their disputes.
Now I am getting to why it is not only still worthwhile to vote, but why it is a pretty good idea to support the New Democratic Party, though not blindly.
In most instances in history when something like a real democracy broke out, it was not from a revolution; at least not in the first instance. It was when conflicts within the ruling class became so destructive that they finally had to let the middle classes act as the arbitrators. These were the people with some education and competence, but with an interest in the well being of the state and no larger interests to protect, or interests in conflict with the common good.
We are in a condition now in Canada where the oligarchy is clearly not able to govern. The management of the covid pandemic was better than in some countries where this deterioration is more advanced and more serous, but it has been still far from adequate. Government in Canada has no ideas and no capacity for dealing with other growing crises, such as unaffordable housing and failing physical infrastructure.
The major political parties are controlled by competing and powerful special interests. The NDP is distinct in that it is not really controlled by oligarchic interests. Instead it is a playground for people who like to bat batty ideas around but will not support clearly destructive ideas.
This is why, as it becomes increasingly impossible for either of the major parties to get a majority, NDP will increasingly be able to act as a stabilizer of the system. It can suppress extreme measures harmful to the public good. To do that it needs to be able to make temporary alliances or agreements with either Liberals or Conservatives.
Some batty ideas ofNDP Deepers do not help this function. Demands from some party members that Jagmeet Singh rule out ‘propping up’ the conservatives are unhelpful. To be able to best represent the real public interests which supporters of NDP like to think is their true concern, he needs to be able to maneuver between the two monsters.
Given the performance of many liberal governments in recent years, federal and provincial, I do not understand why anyone still thinks a conservative government is necessarily more harmful to the interests of ordinary people than a Liberal one.
Further on Batty ideas often supported among the Deepers; I also do not understand why anyone thinks that switching to a proportional representation voting system is going to solve the core problems in the present system. It certainly has not worked for most countries which have proportional representation. The Fair Vote people remain enraptured with their beautiful idea.
There are limits to NDPs ability to ameliorate the damage caused by the clash of oligarchic interests. It has serious internal problems, especially with its internal ‘babble’ of impotent but persistent ideological factions. Wherever NDP has actually formed a government, it has either urned into a surrogate for the liberals, or has failed.
While it makes no sense to entirely walk away from electoral politics, the system will not be reformed from within. The only strategy which could create the reform and reconstruction of the system which is needed, would be parallelism. That is, for some intelligent agents of the public to begin creating parallel governing institutions which can start taking over things the failing system can no longer manage.
If we have some intelligent people within the NDP and perhaps some other third parties, they could provide some support and resources for parallel institutions. Eventually the oligarchic parties themselves will either willingly delegate functions to these institutions, or be forced by necessity to do so.
So, on election day, put on your mask, grab your vax pass and vote card, and go out and vote. I could say, vote NDP. In dear old ‘Spaffy’, we have a very good chance of getting the NDP elected. Conservatives are scarce here so there is nothing ‘strategic’ about it.
If you are not in an “in play” riding like us, I do not know what to tell you. You can vote strategically but your strategy will probably backfire on you. I think in the great majority of cases, if you like NDP, vote NDP. If Liberals and Conservatives are close and NDP is not, vote Liberal. If you are where the CPC will win no matter what, move away.
Now I will say something which the NDP orthodoxy will not like. If they make me walk the plank, it doesn’t matter because I already voted for them. People in Quebec who want a progressive politics should vote for the Bloc Quebecois. The refusal to make an alliance with BQ is one of the stupider things within Deeperdom.
What can I say about the Greens? I have already blogged that the problem with the Green party is that it really is something created by “liberals with composters”. During the recent leadership convention, some seriously ‘left’ folks almost took over the party.
Then, the new leader decided she wanted real control over the party, and her own people in key positions. This caused the existing party establishment’s heads to explode. I predict that if she does not win a seat then that is the end of the Green Party.
After the fiasco of the leadership convention, that would not be a great loss. However, if you have a Green incumbent as an MP, vote Green.
On election day, I think we will end with a liberal minority; right back where we started from. Prince Justin will not be around much longer no matter what. Chrystia Freeland will complete the takeover of Liberal party by the left wing of the globalists.
For those with no idea what I just said, which is probably most readers, that is the topic for a blog in itself. The balance of power within the oligarchy is shifting.
We may get a conservative minority government. If so, it will not be around long. It will not be able to do much. The Toole will not be able to play off the Libs and Deepers the way Harper did.
Now I am again getting into subjects requiring explanation. That is the sign to chop this off and post it. Then, start new bloggings after the election is done, about topics arising from this one.
To reiterate; vote! Then work to replace voting with deliberative democracy.