Cornwall ON – So I sit here, catching up on emails and reading a lot of media buzz. It can be very, very confusing.
Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty stated that the Senate should be abolished. Others have stated the same thing while Mr. Harper seems to want to expand the very body that he also stated should be reformed.
Maybe it is time to abolish the Senate? See we live in times when people simply are far too jaded and cynical to even care or really push for what they want because they believe the system is hopeless and corrupt.
While the Senate may occasionally do something of note it’s mostly a home for loyal party hacks or old broadcasters who for years towed their party lines. It’s this sort of systemic rewarding for not thinking and just being a worker ant which turned me off of being a political candidate, and I think turns thousands if not millions of voters off of politics and making the system work.
Loading ...It’s ironic that when you talk face to face with people what they say they want their government to do yet will do nothing about it or they feel helpless to do so, and even if they did many wouldn’t know the first step to take.
We live in times where Chrysler pays off a government bail out loan complaining of high interest when thousands of small businesses die on the vine because there are no bail outs or loans from the government for them.
We live in times where you have to pay prohibitive amounts of money to defend yourself in court; essentially guilty until proven innocent, if you can afford to prove that innocence, if you’re unlucky enough to get caught up in the legal system where some public defenders complain of rates as low as $100.00 per hour; something many of their “clients” don’t make in a day and never will in their lives.
We live in a world where more people have heard of Lady Gaga than Mother Theresa; and where corruption makes right; not what should be or is done.
Am I simply whining and bitching? Nope. I’m sharing from my soapbox. I’m echoing what I’m frankly tired of hearing from too many people who simply won’t do what it takes to effect change in their lives and others until it’s too late and something happens to them.
And I’m tired of those that would embrace empty values of one level of government, in this case Federal, and then embrace the exact opposite values provincially. That to me is something that most of those people should have been taught to know better as children.
Until we start to embrace people and ideas instead of empty them we are all rats on a sinking ship racing for the top mast before it goes under the waves.
Jamie Gilcig – Editor – The Cornwall Free News
Removing a sizable chunk of democracy like the Senate leaves little constraint on Members of Parliament, who may have occasional legislative knee jerk reactions and conniption fits. Better to discuss improving political reality by filtering out the dead wood, not filtering out our intentionally sabotaged institutions.
Hillbilly, the way the Senate has been stacked over the years, for one side or the other does it really matter?
Yeah, it does matter. It has mattered and it will matter. Something like a Senate is needed. We’ve know this from the inception of Athenian democracy. There must be something in place that prevents political leaders from passing instantaneous Bills and legislation. The appointing of judges and directors deserves equal circumspection. The quality of speaking, thought and debate within the Senate is truly worthwhile. We shouldn’t complain about the minor cost. It’s nothing compared to running foreign wars on a credit card. That the Senate can be stacked and used like a common trollop is a separate issue. The people that have abused the Senate shouldn’t be in a position to decide what to do with it. It was never intended that Senators vote along party lines. Perhaps we should revisit our intentionality.
http://www.parl.gc.ca/ParlBusiness/Senate/Debates/Calendar.asp?Language=E&Parl=41&Ses=1
With Hillbilly #7924 on this:The idea of the Senate as a body of sober second thought with the ability to put the brakes on ill-advised bills from the House is healthy for democracy. But make it an elected Senate with all parties represented in the House running candidates for election. And set a limit of two terms or eight years for elected members.
I agree with Hillbilly and PJR. The Senate should be elected, and in place to review and approve (or not) all bills, before they become law. Given the fact that under our system, a majority government has almost unlimited power, we need a mechanism that can put the brakes on abuse of power. The ability of the governing party to stack the Senate is the problem.
YES.