There must be a better way, or is there?

Of great debate in Canada and particularly British Columbia is the way we elect our government representatives and how our vote is counted. This debate has even progressed to the point of British Columbians voting in a referendum regarding changing from the first-past-the -post system to the Single Transferable Vote during our last provincial election in May, 2009. (It was defeated with only 39% of the voters voting in favour of it.) (for more on the single Transferable Vote and what it is click here.

We have examined some of the pros and cons of our current system and what some of the alternatives are so I want to here from you.

Comment on what system you think is the best. Should we try something new? Is the problem really in how our votes are counted or in the fact that so few people actually vote? How do you think we can fix our system so our government actually represents the people? (If you need to refresh your memory refer to your Counterpoints textbook pages 253-255.)

Exploring Your Political Views

Read the following instructions and complete the two activities. These were developed by a friend of mine, Mr. Thielmann, over at DP Todd.

Activity One
Purpose: find out what kind of political views you have and how they compare with world figures and political parties

Instructions:
go to http://www.politicalcompass.org/
read the instructions and complete the quiz
read through your results page to learn about your views
summarize what you learned from the quiz by commenting in response to this posting on the course blog -- http://www.soc11eh.blogspot.com

Tips:
left vs right: left-wing usually means more government control over industry and economy; right-ring usually means less government regulation and intervention (laissez-faire)
authoritarian vs libertarian: authoritarian means powerful government which controls rights and freedoms, sometimes it can be a dictatorship; libertarian means less government control of rights, sometimes less government in general

Activity Two
Purpose: learn about different ways of organizing nations by politics, economy, and values

Instructions:
go to http://www.nationstates.net
read the introduction and sign up to “build” your nation
experiment with the simulation for as long as you need to see how it works, more if you have the time (warning: NationStates can be addictive!)
summarize what you learned from the simulation by commenting on this posting on the course blog -- http://www.soc11eh.blogspot.com

Tips:
See how the choices you make at the beginning affect the kind of country which is generated by the simulator. Look at other countries and issues around the “world” to see what others have done.