• Rocket@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    The Harper government

    Yeah, no. The fact that you can actually name the dictator tells that this is not FPTP as it was designed. That is how it has come to be used, because people don’t want to express their will, but that has already been talked about to death.

    Again, the FPTP system was designed to have the people select one representative who gathers locally to talk about their concerns and objectives with the local people. The representative then takes the result of that to Ottawa to combine with all of the other localities that have done the same to reach an ultimate consensus. The representative’s actions in Ottawa are recorded to make sure he has honoured what took place locally.

    That is not how we use it. It has been bastardized to the point that it makes no sense. But we could if wanted to have the will of the majority represented. There is nothing stopping us other than doing the democratic work a democracy expects. The only possibly better way to have the will represented is to have us all travel to Ottawa and all gather together. That doesn’t scale so well, though, and it’s a long way from Vancouver.

    The current Liberal + NDP agreement government far better represents the will of the people but it’s a quirk of the FPTP system.

    To be fair, it’s also quirky that you have been able to determine the will of the people as they don’t usually want to express their will. Typically they’d rather let someone else figure it out. Hence how we got here.

    • MapleEngineer@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      The fact that you can actually name the dictator tells that this is not FPTP as it was designed.

      You see? This is the kind of nonsense that is disconnected from reality. Harper was freely and fairly elected and was defeated in a free and fair election. He was nothing approaching a dictator.

      I’m simply not willing to continue to discuss this with you if you’re not making arguments that are connected to reality.

      Have a good day.

      • Rocket@lemmy.ca
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        1 year ago

        Harper was freely and fairly elected and was defeated in a free and fair election.

        The only time Harper was not elected in a Canadian federal election was the first one he participated in. He resigned from politics about six months after his last election win. Maybe you are trying to imply that the resignation was a defeat? But that did not happen during the election.

        Are you, maybe, talking about an election other than the Canadian federal election?

        He was nothing approaching a dictator.

        It sure seemed like you were trying to say that he had total control over the country at one time. I do not disagree. If that is not the case, why did you bring him up?

          • Rocket@lemmy.ca
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            1 year ago

            Funny, as I stopped having a position a while ago. I long moved to trying to figure out your position as it is in no way clear.

            Some pretty simple questions in that last comment that would help clarify things. Is there a reason you are afraid to answer them?

            • MapleEngineer@lemmy.ca
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              1 year ago

              Your positions are so absurd that there is no chance to have a reasonable conversation.

              • Rocket@lemmy.ca
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                1 year ago

                What kind of conversation would we have had if, hypothetically, they were not absurd?

                • Rocket - “[…]”
                • MapleEngineer - “Yup, that’s how it is.”
                • Rocket - “Yup, sure is.”
                • MapleEngineer - “Yup. Guess that’s all there is to say about that.”
                • Rocket - “Yup.”

                Reasonable conversation is predicated on starting with the absurd. I give you the benefit of the doubt that you are trying, in good faith, to provide information to take us from the absurd to something sensible, but I am honestly not clear in what you are trying to say. My attempts to figure it out have been stonewalled.

                • MapleEngineer@lemmy.ca
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                  1 year ago

                  MapleEngineer: I’m going to come over and fuck your wife.

                  Rocket: The fuck you are.

                  MapleEngineer: Let’s negotiate and find some middle ground. Maybe she can just give me a blowjob.

                  When your opening position is absurd there is literally no room for discussion. You always take the most ridiculously extreme and absurd position. That leaves no room for reasonable discussion.

                  • Rocket@lemmy.ca
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                    1 year ago

                    Yeah, more like:

                    • MapleEngineer - “I need to drive a nail into this piece of wood.”
                    • Rocket - “Here is a hammer. It is well suited to the task.”
                    • MapleEngineer - “No thanks. I tried a using a hammer to insert a screw last time and it didn’t work. Not only did it not work, but I hit my thumb and ended up in the hospital.”
                    • Rocket - “Maybe it is not a nail that you need to drive, but to fasten the wood? A staple gun might be the ticket.”
                    • MapleEngineer – “Buddy of a friend of a pal’s wife was bludgeoned to death by a hammer. There is no room for discussion if you are going to be so absurd.”