Wednesday, October 08, 2008
Strategic voting and the environment
I can't say I'm a fan of strategic voting, the spirit of it defeats the purpose of voting in a democracy. And I want to make sure we continue having a multi-party system, even if it means voting for a party that is not going to realistically take power in a particular election. However many people embrace strategic voting as a means to achieve certain political ends. One of those is ensuring we elect an environmentally-friendly party. So if this is your intention might as well do it in a calculated manner using the "vote for environment" website. Plug-in your postal code and it will tell you who to vote for. And if the seat is not hotly contested it will even let you choose.
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3 comments:
I'm with you - not a fan of strategic voting. Unfortunately our current electoral system doesn't do much to discourage the practice.
People also tend to forget that political parties get funding based on the number of votes they get. So votes for 'loser' parties get them more money so they can continue to grow and eventually legitimately challenge the perennial contenders.
Funny how the website assumes that all parties other than the conservatives are equally good for the environment...
As I predicted, the liberal carbon tax-based platform has reduced whole election to the age-old idiotic debate of environment vs. economy. How long will it take before some political genius comes along and takes the country by storm with a campaign platform that acknowledges both short and long-term economic realities?
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