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Having a “Party Whip” is an archaic, outdated and undemocratic practice in any modern legislature. The party whip amounts to bullying the party members and does not allow for the freedom of representation of their respective constituents.
“A whip is an official in a political party whose primary purpose is to ensure party discipline in a legislature. Whips are a party’s “enforcers”, who typically offer inducements and threaten punishments for party members to ensure that they vote according to the official party policy. A whip’s role is also to ensure that the elected representatives of their party are in attendance when important votes are taken. The usage comes from the hunting term “whipping in”, i.e. preventing hounds from wandering away from the pack.”
It is very obvious that a political party which finds the necessity to “Whip” their members into “obedience” lacks confidence that the position the party has taken on the legislation at hand is right and proper. Is it not obvious that waffling amongst the members quite likely means that the position taken is not the favored position and therefore requires more debate to get it right?
Any legislation, any motion, that cannot stand against a free democratic vote does not warrant passage.
There is only one reason that makes the party whip a necessity, Partisan Politics.
- It is Partisan Politics that leads to second rate legislation and Canada certainly has had it’s fill of that.
- It is Partisan Politics that leads to mistrust in politicians and Parliament as a whole. A recent Ekos Research poll finds that, “a mere 10 per cent of Canadians trust politicians”.
- It is Partisan Politics that leads to voter apathy and low voter turn out for elections. IPolitics states “disingenuous politicians trolling for votes that have turned people off”.
- It is Partisan Politics that leads to political scandal. “Canadians are becoming very skeptical about our political system’s integrity.”
- It is Partisan Politics that leads to misuse of the public purse. “… more politicians are being criminally charged or treating themselves lavishly at the public’s expense.” Read more…
Since patriotism emphasizes the regime, regimes that are weak or illegitimate struggle to imbue their members with patriotism and therefore resort to authoritarian and disciplinary practices. The Party Whip is one of those authoritarian and disciplinary practices which identify a weak or illegitimate regime and displays distrust and paranoia.
Freedom and Equality are the hallmarks of Advanced Democracies along with and a belief in liberty, political competition, and participation. The practice of having to “Whip” followers into party discipline is directly contrary to liberty, political competition, and participation. Where liberty is curbed, democracy is trampled.
Carl Marx described a utopian state. “The party structure would resemble a state—general secretary as the executive, a Politburo as the cabinet, the Central Committee as the legislature, and local cells of supporters —but these institutions merely approve whatever party leadership desired.” Notice the similarities?
It is hard to believe that in 2013, what with all the publicity against and millions of dollars and countless hours spent on the prevention of bullying, political parties would still have bullying as official party policy. Now does that make sense? After countless campaigns to identify and curb the bully, some even initiated by governments themselves, (how two faced is that Stephen and Laureen) and yet our elected representatives, who should be the most prominant and socially correct members of Canadian society, still, openly and unashamedly endorse and practice bullying in the workplace.
What is even more detrimental to democracy and good government is that the senior members have “Honorable” before their names. Sorry, to be addressed as Honorable, first you have to deserve the title.
A rather telling statement from Norton College: Nondemocratic Regimes
“In highly unequal societies, those who monopolize economic power may monopolize political power. This may because elites are less willing to share power when they fear losing their economic opportunities. Some argue that countries with abundant natural resources (such as oil or minerals) have a barrier to modernization because wealth is concentrated among elites who control those resources. Also, since natural resources are not portable, those in power know that should they give up power, they will not be able to take these assets with them.”
Says a lot to why the Conservatives under Stephen Harper are systematically digressing Canada socially and democratically.
A Party Whip is an instrument of torture in the hands of a Mistress in clandestine, aberrant sexual practices. Let’s not go there.