Odd sort of Victory...

[fajrdrako]

From the headlines of The Hill Times today - what's going on on Parliament Hill:

Conservatives fined for breaking elections laws, but Tories claim outcome a ‘big victory’The Conservative party and its financial arm pleaded guilty Thursday to a total of four charges of exceeding the party’s campaign expenses for the 2006 federal election and

Comments

[fajrdrako]

I'm inclined to think people are morally thoughtless, rather than just stupid... or maybe simply discouraged into apathy?

[fajrdrako]

It means there's hope. Stupidity is generally incurable. Apathy can be changed.

[dewline]

A lot of Us The Voters want the laws respected. But we're the Outvoted Majority.

[fajrdrako]

They act as if breaking these laws isn't a criminal act. I don't get it.

[dewline]

There's an essay by George Orwell on political speech-writing that explains things like this: "Politics and the English Language". Looked at through such a lens as that essay, I find it unsurprising that they spin a plea-bargain and wrist-slap-sized fine to look like a "Great Political Victory Over Those Damned Meddling Bureaucrats at Elections Canada".

[fajrdrako]

That's a very clear way of expressing it - and how sad that is!

[lunacy_gal]

Because the cheaters and liars are the ones who promise more money and fewer taxes. (Whether they follow through is unimportant; the promise is there, and that's all the average voter wants to hear.)

[dewline]

Maybe I'm "not average" due to reading too much Occupy Movement-related coverage of late, but I'm not inclined to believe that you're fairly characterizing the "average voter".

[lunacy_gal]

The average voter voted in our current government. That's why they won. I'm not saying the average Canadian, because statistics show that the average Canadian doesn't vote at all.

[dewline]

To be fair, "doesn't vote at all" is an exaggeration. Dangerously close to coming true, but still an exaggeration.

Also, "First Past the Post" rules make for Outvoted Majorities a fair bit of the time when the majority in question can't agree on who/what they actually do want in charge of the government. Which ties into motive behind that danger mentioned above.