Thomas Jefferson wrote, in 1789, that “wherever the people are well informed they can be trusted with their own government;” he backed up that claim by founding the University of Virginia, about which he wrote, in 1820: “This institution will be based on the illimitable freedom of the human mind. For here we are not afraid to follow the truth ( Read more... )

Why Canada's federal parties will have precious little choice but to actually cultivate AFN votes:

“If you want to become an MP, you better listen to us. You better focus on our issues because we’re voting now,” he said, adding that in the past, MPs wouldn’t care about Indigenous issues because they knew they wouldn’t vote anyways ( Read more... )

It looks like the Parti Quebecois (Quebec's traditional sovereignist/separatist party), is doing rather poorly in the polls - trailing in a distant third place in the run-up to the next election period. It seems that the PQ are failing to outrace demographics, and their alienation of allophones and anglophones.

Un nouveau sondage Léger-Le Devoir ( Read more... )

As a giant polisci nerd, I find this fascinating and intruiging...

"In a show of backbencher strength, NDP MP Sheila Malcolmson could become the first MP in history to force her colleagues in the House of Commons into a secret ballot to save a piece of legislation ( Read more... )

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The new relationship between the Senate and the rest of Parliament is continuing to shift and evolve. The latest development is one of Cabinet Ministers individually lobbying Senators in order to secure their votes in the Red Chamber. It seems like the natural thing to do, and certainly necessary if (as a Minister) you want to ensure that a ( Read more... )

The Senate tests it's limits further by seeking to amend the budget - gets a swat on the nose by the House for infringing upon the rights and privileges of the Commons...

PARLIAMENT HILL-The House adjourned for the summer Wednesday evening after an acrimonious spring sitting, but the government’s 300-page omnibus budget implementation bill is ( Read more... )

Mr. Chong’s Reform Act (Bill C-586) amended the Parliament of Canada Act to require all party caucus members vote on such provisions as MP expulsion from caucus, reviewing or removing the leader, and electing their national caucus chairs. None of the three major parties in the House adopted all the measures ( Read more... )

Like modern democracies, the ancient Greek democracy had an anger problem. Read the historians, and you will see some things that are not remote: individuals litigating obsessively against people they blame for having wronged them; groups blaming other groups for their lack of power; citizens blaming prominent politicians and other elites for ( Read more... )

“Equivalences of Experience and Symbolization in History” (1971)[1] is, in my view, one of Eric Voegelin’s five most important stand-alone essays, along with “Immortality: Experience and Symbol” (1967), “The Gospel and Culture” (1971), “The Beginning and the Beyond: A Meditation on Truth” (written 1974-77), and “Wisdom and the Magic of the Extreme ( Read more... )