Quote:
Originally Posted by Ark2
Huh? The purpose of the Senate is to be a sober second thought. Sure, in a minority government, the Senate may not be necessary, but that changes with a majority government. In a majority government, all members of the ruling party have to tow the party line on bills that include motions of confidence. In this situation, there is no debate, the opposition has no power and frankly, the entire democratic process is circumvented. Having an upper house that is actually effective would mean this majority government would have to cooperate with someone else and wouldn't get to run this country as a friendly dictatorship. That sounds like a pretty good thing to me. As it stands today, senators generally just stick with the status quo or honour their allegiances to the party that appointed them to the Senate in the first place. That doesn't sound like a very effective system to me.
Could you please explain your reasons for not wanting an elected senate?
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People who are elected will almost always fall into doing whatever they need to preserve their position. This does not always serve the best interests of democracy because you end up with politicians just doing whatever they need to to get re-elected... and as we all know, most politicians will lie their faces off to get there. Their positions are almost always for sale to whoever will get them back in office. For a senate to provide an
honest "sober, second thought", they have to be free from that process. That can't fear backlash for making decisions/recommendations that may not be popular but that a seasoned politician would recognize as necessary.
Another purpose of the senate is also to include groups of people into the political process that would otherwise be marginalized. There are some groups that are overall large or have sway over large groups, but are relative minorities in most ridings and do not get represented in the demcratic process. The senate is supposed to even that out a little bit.
The only way an elected senate is worthwhile is if we change our whole system to a republican style government with better representation by population instead of the parliamentary democracy we currently use.