30 May 2010

Lessons on Framing - Majority Governments

Lorne Gunter writes in the Edmonton Sun today in general support of a Liberal-NDP coalition - provided the Bloc "doesn't hold the hammer."

I wish journalists and others would stop denigrating the Bloc. In doing so, they denigrate the people who vote for it. But that's not the point of this post. It's this:

What I would object to, strenuously, would be proportional representation foisted on the nation by such a coalition.

That would cement coalition in our future almost forever.... [M]ajority governments would be rare and coalition governments are compromise governments.

Oh, dear! To have coalition, compromise, the representation in government - not perpetually in opposition - of the majority of voters!

Get with the lingo: majority government should NOT be defined as 'government comprised of members of a single party' but 'government comprised of members that represent the majority of voters'.

Governments - minority or majority - should never be defined in terms of how many political parties they represent. To hell with parties! What about voters?!

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