New Zealanders were very dissatisfied with their political leadership, Monica. That should sound familiar, right? But I agree that it is easier to focus an entire nation of 5 million than one of 335 million. We are extremely divided and the political system makes it that much worse.
Yet not discussing it at all in our articles, while it is the heart of the matter, helps those that sit in the comfortable seats, perpetuating discrimination and suppression.
Our system is based on including the middle-class (because majorities need them) and helps those at the top that are well-off already. The bottom is completely not represented. That is where the blows fall the most. I am reminded of the movie The Platform. Did you see it? Asking me, that movie is about capitalism, but also about power and therefore our voting system.
When writing about discrimination and exploitation it should be fairly easy to include a single sentence about the underlying voting system — that is already a good start — for instance with a link. The focus needs nudging toward the spot where the blows fall as you did really well in your article. What about the following examples:
“And then we haven’t even started to look at our voting system yet. I’ll leave that for another article”
“Some suggest we rework our voting system because it fails to represent large voting minorities. That can easily be covered in a separate article.”
“Ultimately, our voting system needs to be reviewed as well, since it is part and parcel how we organize ourselves. How to get a grip on this is an issue all by itself.”
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I would love to ask you if you could write an article about it. You are right, it is complex. But you showed me that you can comprehend complex issues and come up with easy ways to communicate about them. Our power is divisively manipulated in this crummy system.
You can use any visual in my articles and you do not need to mention me at all (it would be nice to get a note for the art and images).
Thank you again, Monica, for your article. Yay — wonderful.
