This whole PC Party Leadership fiasco with Brad Cabana (who I think is a total douche) really got me thinking about how unfair the process to run for a leadership race it. The concept that you need $5,000 just to enter your name in the leadership race is kind of mind boggling. It really limits the talent pool to people with high incomes who can just afford to potentially throw away $5,000 with very limited chance that you will get that money back through earning the salary of being a leader of a political party. Maybe it is a good thing, so that you don't just have random people who's education levels limit them from having low disposable income from running, but it seem inherently undemocratic to do so.
The other part of the equation is needing 50 signatures from party members. Why do you need support just to run? If you don't have support, this will come out during the convention when nobody votes for you to win. Needing support just to enter doesn't have much merit in my mind either. You have to go through the expense of a convention either way, so why not have people vote while they are there?
While perhaps all of this is for the best and it results in the most talented candidates running for office, it doesn't seem fair in a democratic society where everyone (above the age of 18) is supposed to be able to engage in politics and have the right to run for office. I'm pretty sure a lot of war veterans died to give us such rights, basically paid for it so later generations wouldn't have to, yet here we are still charging 5 grand to run for the leadership of a party...lest we forget!
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Now I Hear - Goo Goo Dolls
It's hard for me to fathom how someone who does not even know me would call me a douche. For your info I spent 7 years in the military, and my father was one of those guys that went to war for six years. I'm positive he wouldn't appreciate your comments, and I know I don't. If your going to write this sort of thing, do me a favour, don't invoke us veterans in your remarks. Brad Cabana
ReplyDeleteWell Mr.Cabana I would take this amatuer blog as an indication that not only do you not have the support of the PC Party but also do not have the support of the public and also googling yourself is a douche move.
ReplyDeleteIn this thread: Brad Cabana takes the internet too seriously and expresses his displeasure with people exercising their right to freedom of expression.
ReplyDeletegoogling your own name and commenting on a small "hobby" blog proves you're a big douche. Maybe you should go back to your mayoral position in Saskatchewan...but they probably don't want you there either.
ReplyDeleteDunderdale was willing to step down if someone wanted to take her place, but changed her mind when you popped up. I'm pretty sure i'm more acceptable to the PC party than you are!
Maybe if you had paid more attention you would have gotten that the writer of the blog was actually on your side, and agrees that EVERYONE should be able to run. Boy am i glad that democracy isn't all it's cracked up to be, because then you might be an eligible candidate.
As a final note, kbarrett85 for PC leadership!
ReplyDeleteKara, you can count on my everyday man's signature for your application to run for the leadership!
ReplyDeleteAgreed.
ReplyDeleteThat means i already have more legitimate signatures than Cabana. Nice!
ReplyDeleteIf I were a blog troll I would point out that Brad Cabana used "your" when it should have used "you're". If I were a troll...
ReplyDeleteI admit that I don't know much about provincial politics. Luckily, ignorance motivates people to be more opinionated, so here is my opinion!
I disagree with Keith that everyone should be able to run. This is a party leadership. Really, it has nothing to do with government. It is just a private club of people with similar political philosophies. Masons, Stone Cutters, no-girls-allowed tree houses, etc. They create the club and the rules. Whether Brad Cabana followed those rules is not for me to judge.
It might be a different matter if people were shut out of running as an independent for a provincial election. I suppose they can, can't they? I am not sure what barriers are there to that, but the reality is that only wealthy people can afford to run for most elected positions whether there is a special fee or not.
Most people in the world are only a paycheck or two away from bankruptcy so the idea of running for a position that you have a slim chance of winning and not working while you campaign means most people are excluded for this reason alone.
I also think that as long as Brad Cabana and the conservatives are in the news, the other parties are not. I think the publicity is a good thing for the party. When people think of an election, the names that come to their mind are Brad Cabana, Danny, and Kathy. They might wonder what ever happened to Lorraine and Yvonne.
Since I think votes for provincial parties are votes for people more so than ideologies, just having your face in the news should help shore up votes from voters that may look elsewhere now that Danny Williams is gone.