A Perfectly Cromulent Politics Blog
When procrastinating from law school, I write about politics, tech, or whatever else I'm interested in. Feel free to tweet me up (@devinjohnston).
When procrastinating from law school, I write about politics, tech, or whatever else I'm interested in. Feel free to tweet me up (@devinjohnston).
Posted by Devin Johnston on January 25th, 2010
Canadian citizens are waking up from a long slumber. More than 27,000 people took to the streets this past weekend, in protest of Stephen Harper's prorogation of Parliament. Over 200,000 are voicing their concerns through emerging media. Against all odds, Saturday was indeed "a great day for democracy in Canada".
Posted by Devin Johnston on January 5th, 2010
I will have a lot to say about the suspension of representative democracy shortly. Today, I want to talk about what happens when Parliament resumes. As I see it, the opposition parties have three options:
Posted by Devin Johnston on November 13th, 2009
At least ten reasons have been advanced as justifications for our continuing mission in Afghanistan (some of these come from the Government of Canada and others from popular media and politicians). Setting aside whether or not these are the real reasons, let's see how the stated objectives are working out for all involved.
Posted by Devin Johnston on September 6th, 2009
Northern BC Dipper has already covered this issue in a post from 2007, but I'd like to add my voice to the chorus of democrats who favour "one member, one vote" (OMOV). The upcoming Manitoba NDP Leadership Convention will, unfortunately, use an archaic delegate system which disenfranchises the majority of party members.
Posted by Devin Johnston on June 11th, 2009
Yesterday via Jason Kottke, I stumbled across a list of 50 persuasion techniques that explore human psychology in relation to marketing and other calls to action. As I read through the list, I was reminded of one of Canada's most celebrated election traditions: lambasting young citizens for failing to vote in record numbers. It struck me that many of the messages put out by the media and by pro-youth-voter groups violate the rules set out in the list. I'm not an expert on these things, but I thought I'd share some of my observations by reference to the rules in the list.
