Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Sunday, June 05, 2011

Page’s protest sets poor precedent

Brigette DePape set a precedent when, in full page’s uniform, she walked onto the floor of the Senate while the Governor General was reading the speech from the throne to display her homemade “Stop Harper” sign. It is a bad precedent.

The staff of Parliament, like the behind-the-scenes staff of a theatre, are not there to take the stage; they are there to allow the key actors, the politicians, to perform their roles in the democratic processes.

Civil disobedience has a legitimate and important place in politics. It is a knowing and intentional contravention of laws or rules for an important purpose or cause, such as a desire to change a bad law. It can demand willingness to suffer the consequences of that disobedience to prove the sincerity of the perpetrator’s belief and cause.

Full Article
Source: Toronto Star 

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