“Those who take a stand based on the view of their constituents should
not be punished by their party”
I’ve had that thought many times … but those words were not written by
me. They are part of the headline (or story
lead) in an opinion / editorial piece written by Maxwell A. Cameron. He is director of the Centre for the Study of
Democratic Institutions at UBC.
I would encourage you to read
his full comments … but if you only have a moment right now, here are a
couple of comments that he made in his article:
… Parliament is a place for
deliberation and legislation. It is the one branch of government whose supreme
duty it is to make the general rules by which all citizens shall abide….
… sadly, parliamentarians
increasingly do what party leaders tell them rather than what they think is
right. Subordination to the party begins with the nomination process, a
typically opaque and poorly regulated affair. Individual candidates often come
out of the process more beholden to the party machine than to constituents.
… our system is built on the
principle of parliamentary supremacy. In practice we have a partyarchy — the
rule of political parties at the expense of our constitutional order. We need
politicians with the moral skill and will to restore balance to our
parliamentary system.
