Monday, October 31, 2011



Shorter anti-MMP campaign

"People we disagree with should be disenfranchised to prevent them from having any influence over politics".

No, they don't say it explicitly. But its what their concern about "king-makers" and push for a less proportional electoral system boils down to. And it is a deeply, deeply undemocratic idea.

Democracy is about majority rules. But if you don't win a majority, the voting system shouldn't construct an artificial one for you. Instead, you should look for partners to get you over the line. This necessarily requires compromise and accepting that you're not going to get your own way on everything.

"Vote for change" and their wealthy backers don't want to do this. They want their own way all the time, regardless of what the majority thinks. And their solution is to discount the votes of those who don't support them to make it easier. Whatever you call it, that isn't democracy, and we should not accept it. Nobody likes Winston, but I'd rather live in a democracy with Winston Peters than a dictatorship without him.