Half my mature life I lived here, half my mature life I lived there, Dave, so I know both areas across the big pond rather well. I can see that you do not know Europe that well, though you are very interested in the stories told in your family about old Europe. Those that left Europe to come to North America may have all had good reasons to leave. But they did not capture the spirit of those that stayed, they abandoned it.
The narrative you follow is very North-American. That does not mean you are totally incorrect. You see things red and blue, and that can indeed help you identify reality, as I will show in the image below. But I miss the yellow in your knowledge, and that entails missing vital information.
In a system of winner-takes-all, people will start to think accordingly about the big picture. I claim you see reality more like the version to the left, because of your (political) culture (that includes having the USA as a neighbor).
Imagine how two people would communicate with each other if both had no idea what the other person sees. Notice how the focus on the information in the red-and-blue picture is different from the full color picture. Still, we can recognize the two birds, so the subject matter between both people will be identical. Yet the interpretation will be off. Some areas are the same, but each bit of information is coherent with their specific overall system.
The politicians in the system to the left will talk about the distinctions of red and blue and focus on them. The politicians in the system to the right will talk about their distinct areas of importance.
Notice how the birds on the left have something fascinating and spectacular about themselves, while the full color birds are despite the beautiful colors somewhat ordinary.
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Once upon a time in proportional voting, a completely new party arrived. It got four percent of the votes and no one of the other parties had seen this coming. It was the Party for the Elderly. By the next election, that party was gone.
What happened? The established parties investigated why this political Party of the Elderly was popular all of a sudden. It turned out that A/ the population had grown older and B/ the other political parties had not adjusted themselves to this fact. The Party of the Elderly captured the sentiment of this now larger group in society and got four percent of the votes (and therefore six out of the 150 seats in parliament). Since they were situated in the middle of society, these six seats could be vital in giving a coalition government their majority.
Particularly those parties that are based on staying very close to the people in general (some parties are more specialized in topic or sentiment) went out of their way to listen to the elderly and where possible delivered for the elderly. New laws were passed, new programs created for the elderly. This resulted in the Party of the Elderly not capturing any seats in the next election. Even though the Party of the Elderly was never part of a coalition government, the overall political system functioned well and swiftly.
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That same nation also has a Party for the Animals. Humans are upset with mega farms and the stance toward the environment, so they started to vote for this non-human party. Today, this party captures about seven and a half percent of the votes. Since the environment, too, is in essence a centrist theme, these seats are important during voting in parliament, particularly on all other issues. The specific group, be it yellow, green or orange, is listened to, their ideals expressed, and some of their issues may indeed get addressed head-on. That is democracy in action. Nobody waits for the ones in power to start addressing an issue, because the voters themselves are the power.
In district voting, concerns held by small groups can (and do) get ignored for years and years.
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During the last election, 81.9 percent of the eligible voters came to the polls in that nation with the Party for the Animals.
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Division is captured in proportional voting, and that is a major distinction with district voting in which division is incorporated. Full representation vs. winners and losers. These are two fundamental differences.
Your system is and must be placed with district voting. Your system still does not capture full representation. Your system can therefore not be as dynamic as proportional voting. What I read is that you have goodwill as an important aspect of your system. Goodwill is a sweet approach, but confirms that your system is not capturing division. Division is the most common reality in human nature (and history) that politics needs to capture if we want to live in a mature world.
Yes, people will complain about their politicians. They always will, no matter the system. Yet complaining is a good thing in proportional voting; it makes societies better. And you can always vote a specific way to support your ideals and express your needs.
Complaining in winner-take-all is not that good unless you’re with the majority. You can be placed in the corner when part of a smaller group and become part of the losers, not listened to anymore.
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Canada has a well-educated population.
In this link you can see a map of the world, showing that Canada fits right in with other well-run nations in the world. What they have in common is a high level of education. In the United States education is not delivered to all; many people are kept dumb, while others are supported to the nines to become super smart. Canada is therefore more like the birds in full color because it educates its own population and is not as dependent on a brain-drain as the USA (plus it has four/five parties and therefore Canadians understand political diversity better).
Always fun to communicate with you, Dave. Keep doing what you are doing.
