I know this sounds like hyperbole, but there is a direct line from our election system to the attitudes that created the meme above.
What Does This Meme Say?
As all the self-righteous left wingers love to point out, this diatribe, which purports to be so innocently inclusive, is full of bigoted and racist signals. It demonstrates a rigidity of social ethics and a complete lack of sensitivity usually attributed to conservative types.
But when considered without the blur of political jingoism, it also demonstrates the fear of those who consider their whole way of life under attack. It’s a Santa’s list of all the rites and rituals these people hold dear, the most important attainment being the respect of others.
How Did This Happen?
In the natural flow of human culture, new generations grow up learning the rituals and ethics of their parents. As time goes on, they change this ethos ever so slightly to adapt to the reality of the life they are leading. The parents fearfully resist these changes, because the new ideas do not match up with the life they have experienced. As the new generation swells and the elders die off, the power of the majority slowly takes on the new ideas, and society adapts to meet the needs of the new world.
A glance at Canadian political history over the last 50 years reveals the pattern. One third of the time the right wing is in power, two thirds of the time we have been ruled by the left wing. Thus we should have a two-steps-ahead-one-step-back pattern that sounds like steady, slow progress.
Now Add in FPTP
One statistical anomaly that always shows up in our electoral system is that somewhere around 35% of the popular vote usually results in a majority government. Thus, our developing society is not ruled by a majority, but by just over a third of the voters.
The result of this is that Canada’s social change has been advancing at a faster rate than the larger portion of the population is ready for. Add a few other factors:
- FPTP has a tendency to alienate voters, especially those of lower socio-economic rank.
- When the economy suffers, the cost is mostly absorbed in the lower socio-economic strata. The abuse of the working poor by the commercial world adds another level of stress to their lives.
- The right wing doesn’t have a monopoly on control junkies. There are plenty of ultra-PC sorts on the left, happy to demonstrate their moral superiority to those who write and pass on lists like the one above. Without a jot of empathy for how they are feeling.
The Bottom Line
Canadian society needs two things:
First, a Proportional system of voting that gives power to at least 50% of the people.
Which should lead to:
Second, a realization in the country’s leaders that real social change has to include more than half the population. Winning an election does not give anyone the right to change society. It gives them a chance to try to persuade the reluctant minority to accept a needed change.
People who do not fear the disintegration of their way of life are much more accepting of differences in others.