A blog to give a voice to our concern about the continued erosion of our democratic processes not only within the House of Commons and within our electoral system but also throughout our society. Here you will find articles about the current problems within our parliamentary democracy, about actions both good and bad by our elected representatives, about possible solutions, opinions and debate about the state of democracy in Canada, and about our roles/responsibilities as democratic citizens. We invite your thoughtful and polite comments upon our posts and ask those who wish to post longer articles or share ideas on this subject to submit them for inclusion as a guest post.
Contact us at democracyunderfire@gmail.com

Sunday, December 9, 2018

Democracy in decline?

As my small cadre of regular readers will know I have been writing about our Canadian democracy for nearly 10 years much of that time spent documenting the Harper Regimes disdain for the democratic process. Although I now have less inclination to write the need to continue to keep those who would subvert said democratic process feet to the fire continues, most recently highlighted by the actions of the Ford Regime here in Ontario. I am not sure that I have the fortitude to extend my commentary to the same extend that I did a few years ago, certainly not to the extent and depth previously made on these pages, I am pleased however to see that a number of other bloggers are taking notice of the decline both here and elsewhere.

This last while I have seen a number of articles which have highlighted the writers concern about the state of democracy across the world some of which I will provide a brief synopsis and a link to here. Keep up the good work guys for I am getting tired of beating my head against that particular wall! Most of the following are linked from recent posts at http://progressivebloggers.ca/?s=democracy

Canadians take our democracy for granted. Most rarely think of it at all........
What is the root cause of transit issues in North America?

One of the critical strengths of our Canadian democracy is that we elect people in each electoral district to represent us in parliament........

Paul Krugman had it right when he denounced climate change denialists as “depraved.” And the depraved, also known as right-wing populists, will be out in force.........

To be sure, the elevation of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario to government redounds to everyone’s shame. Led by a buffoonish thug, Doug Ford........,

If you are not being sued by the Ford government in Ontario, you might already be suing it or hoping to sue..........

And here are a few further random posts on the subject.......

We continue to find compelling evidence of an increasing trust divide between government and citizens. This is reflected in the decline of democratic satisfaction and receding trust in politicians.......

From Michigan to North Carolina, GOP legislators are proving they care more about clinging to power than the will of the voters.......

One hundred years on from efforts to make British democracy somewhat fairer, the government likes to claim it cares about equality – but it has its sights on making it more difficult for people to cast their ballots.

The UK’s democracy is in danger of backsliding – but current policy proposals are not the right fix..........

How can our system of law enforcement (or government) survive, as other than an arm of a dictatorship, if there are no repercussions for those responsible for upholding the rules.......

Here in Ontario there is currently a 'dispute' between the teachers and the government as to what the teachers unions want and what the taxpayers can afford,....... (how little thing have changed in 6 years!)

At least we are still able to talk about it, in some parts of the world the very mention of such things could be considered blasphemous!


Support Democracy - Recommend this Post at Progressive Bloggers

6 comments:

Lorne said...

Thanks for the links, Rural. They will prove a valuable resource for those of us who pine for better and politically healthier days.

Rural said...

Credit where credit is due Lorne!

Owen Gray said...

There are some bloggers who share your concerns, Rural. Keep the light burning.

Rural said...

I'm going to try Owen, but......

The Mound of Sound said...

No, no, no Rural. You don't get off the hook now. While the odds may be discouraging this fight has a good way to go. I worry that, if we get another Trudeau government and then the standard two-term swing to Conservative government, our liberal democracy may be damaged, perhaps irreparably, before we ever get another word of electoral reform. Trudeau may be locking us in to a de facto two-party state, neither of which need muster more than two out of five votes to dominate us with false majority rule.

Rural said...

Time will tell Mound but I suspect the BS coming from them all in the pre election run up will give me something to keep on blogging about.