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The Unaccountable Cartel Party System of Government CPC(M-L)'s Guide to Action: For Us, Accountability Begins at HomeThe Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) is guided by the motto For Us, Accountability Begins at Home. This is not the propaganda ploy of the politician who tells his or her electors "Trust me, I will deliver the goods." It is, first and foremost, a pledge taken by CPC(M-L) and all its members that they will be accountable to their peers and on this basis ensure that not only are they accountable to society but society is accountable to its members.
The notion inherent in election promises is altogether unacceptable, no matter whether what is promised is good or bad. It presupposes an electoral process which disenfranchises the electors by getting them to hand over their mandate to govern to representatives over whom they can exercise no control. It misrepresents reality by perpetuating the illusion that individual MPs can represent what they want in Parliament. In fact, in a system in which only political parties are allowed to seek power and governments are formed by the party which wins a majority, it is the program of the party that forms the cabinet which is enacted in Parliament. In a minority situation, such as exists at this time, a lot of horse-trading takes place but this does not change the fact that such parties form a cartel party system in the service of those who brought them to power -- the most powerful financial interests. There is not one government of Canada, since elections were first organized, that has not implemented the program of the vested interests which brought it to power. The problem is that even though all Canadians know that the elections based on "Trust me, I will deliver the goods" are a fraud, the idea prevails that somehow elections hold the party in power to account. If the people do not like what it does, it can be turfed out of office in the next election in favour of another party. Many who want to change the situation will still act in a naive way and decide to back those who tell them "We are different. We will deliver the goods " This is why the motto of CPC(M-L) is so significant and should be seriously looked at by all those who sincerely want to be effective. The first question arises as to why this motto is different from any other. What does it mean? If, as the CPC(M-L) says, it is not a propaganda ploy, what is it? It is a guide to action for all members of CPC(M-L) and for CPC(M-L) itself. What it means is that the Party is itself a mechanism of accountability. It is telling Canadians that in order to empower themselves, they should not entrust the important field of politics to anyone else but get involved themselves. The idea that politics is the domain of "politicians" is itself a mechanism to keep Canadians disempowered. Politics is presented in a very distorted manner. The impression is created that in order to become a politician you have to be a very slick talker, you have to be a professional of some sort, preferably a lawyer, or an accountant or huckster from a consulting firm or a bank, and so on. And that it is necessary to either have a lot of money oneself or access to it. This means that those who are not independently wealthy have to have very good connections with those who are -- whether it is the party itself that one will run on behalf of, or business contacts. This conception of politics and politicians breeds contempt and, as mentioned previously, acts as a very definite mechanism to keep Canadians out of politics so that they leave politics to these politicians. The problem is so serious that the impression is created that nothing can be done about it. This is the way things are and can't be changed.
Today all human beings are born to society and belong to society. They depend on that society for their living. The field of living concerns all aspects of life -- how people are able to acquire their living and how they can pursue their living. In other words, it concerns their economic well-being, their health care, their education and their participation in social and cultural life. This means that just as every human being has the right to life, so too they have the right to govern the society which sets what kind of life it is and will be in the future. This is the field of politics. It is a fundamental human right to participate in governing one's society. Not only does it not make sense to live at the mercy of others, but to agree to do so means to agree to a system which fundamentally violates one's human rights. A study of the system of party government in Canada shows that the aim of political parties has become one of seeking and remaining in power. The role of the electorate is reduced to that of voting cattle. Within this process, electoral promises are made to hoodwink the electors and electoral programs are "marketed" so as to get votes and divert the people. CPC(M-L) does not agree with this electoral process. It is calling on Canadians to join its work to build a mechanism in which those who present themselves for election are accountable to the electors. The motto For Us, Accountability Begins at Home guides the members of CPC(M-L) to make sure their activities will lead to bringing these changes about. It begins with encouraging everyone to speak in their own name, not just repeat what the ruling classes tell us is important and make that the reference point for the conversation but to voice what people themselves see is necessary. Joining in to create the forums which make speaking in one's own name possible opens a path to renew the political process and for society's progress.
This article was published in   Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca |
There are various
problems with the current system based on
"Trust me, I will deliver," besides the well-known
problem that
it is not true. The main problem is that it points
to an
electoral system based on disenfranchising the
electorate. It
signifies that the electors have no control over
those whom they
elect to represent them. Of course, not everyone
who says such a
thing is insincere or not well-meaning. There are
not a few naive
people who join the ranks of this or that
established political
party who truly believe such things to be true
when they run for
office. The fact that when they get into office
they are unable
to be effective in passing well-intentioned
legislation should
tell them that the problem lies with the political
process itself
and that it requires fundamental changes. CPC(M-L)
is therefore
appealing to such people, and especially to the
workers who see
no alternative, along with all Canadians, to look
into this issue
in a profound manner and discuss what the problem
is.
In fact, this is
not so. In the first place, this is not what
politics are. The field of politics includes
everything that
concerns the political structures of society. A
society cannot
exist without these structures because a society
must necessarily
have its instruments of government. It is the glue
that keeps it
together. What principles guide these instruments
of government
and how they function tell you who controls the
decision-making
power and hence what kind of society it is.