Are political parties ruining Canadian democracy?

[grammafreddy]

People we need to open our eyes and get real. I am the working poor. taxes are horendus. Our freedoms keep eroding 1 by 1. We are a totalitarian society like it or not.

You are the working poor with high taxes because the people keep demanding more and more from government. In order to give the people all these social benefits, they have to raise taxes. Taxes is where governments at all levels get their money.

[grammafreddy]

I agree there needs to be some shake-up in the way political parties operate in this country - but not in the free market system we have.

When we have political parties who force elected representatives to vote along party lines on issues against the will of the people who elect them, we create opportunities for dishonesty and corruption.

When political parties are permitted to accept large corporate and private donations from people and organizations with agendas, that also creates problems.

When religious ideals are allowed to hold sway on rights issues, then I have a problem with governments and their decisions. By using religion to relegate certain citizens to bottom feeder status and deny them rights common to all Canadians, I have issues.

When governments give out massive grants to MP's home ridings and contracts worth millions to their "friends", I have issues. Government should not involve itself with private business and should be more transparent about what business it does do with private enterprise.

I also have a problem with CBC getting big operating bucks and slanting the news to suit one political agenda. Maybe it is time to do away with government funding for the CBC.

I don't like back room deals and the one that currently comes to mind is the way the BC Liberals did all that HST stuff and made all those decisions behind closed doors - and then just sprung it on the people with a "done deal" attached to it - and lied to the people about it, too. That's not democracy and that kind of back room stuff needs to stop - at all levels of government because the BC LIberals did not do that entirely on their own - the feds had a big hand in it, too.

Maybe this is why I have been looking at the Libertarian Party lately ... they have a whole different philosophy and do things differently than the parties we currently have.

And let's not blame all this entirely on the politicians ... there's a lot of very bad bureaucrats in high and medium high positions who drive the government and elected people from places that are NOT elected and who have their own graft, dishonesty and agenda in their "kingdoms" and who work internally to suit corporations and religious ideals and line their own pockets.

[sooperphreek]

isnt it funny how martin was the leader of our country and his shipping company didnt even pay taxes in canada because it was under a foreign flag in a tax haven? how can you take the wealthy polititians seriously when they tell you they have the peoples best interests at heart. its crazy.