Not Fascism, but Partisanship: A Different Diagnosis

Day 718, 00:53 • Published in Canada Canada • by Wilhelm Gunter
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Editor's Note: I am writing this article in response to Duke Leto’s article.

I, too, see the same symptoms my fellow eCanadian does: newspaper articles written overflowing with emotion and passion, insults and accusations thrown around in PM’s and on party forums, and people tearing each other’s character to shreds over perceived slights or so-called bad decisions.

No, the problem is not Fascism, but Partisanship.

I am currently serving my first of what I is hope many terms in Parliament, but since day 1 I have been disappointed – disappointed to have seen many of my fellow Parliamentarians be adversarial with one another, and with our Prime Minister, who in turn, has reciprocated. I have witnessed parties which have tried to play the game of political one-upmanship , both in government and outside of it, in public. Frankly, most of it troubles me.

Many of you will think I am against partisanship. You’d be right. And, you’d be wrong.

You see, there is a time for partisanship. Partisanship is inherent in politics. People have visions, a better road to travel, a better utopia to arrive at, or the same utopia but different road to get there. This is politics. And by suggesting their goal, or their destination, or their route is better, necessarily implies the other options out there are inferior. A judgement of sorts is being made, indeed, has to be made. If an individual doesn’t think his or her way or method is better than the other options out there, they are foolish to be involved in politics, and quite frankly, are wasting their time, my time, and the time of anyone else who bothers to listen to them. In fact, each politician and political party ought to espouse loudly, shout from the rooftops with great conviction and bravado, and with boldness declare what they believe, and why they believe it, and convince us, the electorate, to believe it with them!!

But what I am against is Partisanship 365 days a year. Partisanship, in my mind, should be limited in the days leading up to the Parliamentarian elections and the election of the Prime Minister. Partisanship should have ended at the beginning of eRepublik day 717. The eCanadian populace have made their decision, and it needs to be respected. One candidate has been judged to have been better than the others – whether that judgement was correct or not can be debated, but the judgment IS in, and we all need to respect it. Partisanship would then, ideally, start back up 3 or 4 days before the Parliamentarian elections are held, and then end when the last vote is counted and Day 737 begins. Sure, many people, albeit a minority, will not be happy with the outcome of many votes taken, or the direction the government is going. That’s perfectly fine. We are not called to like it, to be happy about it, or to agree with it. But we need to respect the choices and outcomes of votes. We need to work together in the same spirit. It does not mean we all dress alike, or walk the same way, or speak with the same accents. Vote against what you disagree with. But respect the outcome. The vote is in, move on. Your parliamentary motion is defeated, or your choice of candidate did not win. Oh well.

Are any of you old enough (I’m 35) to remember a certain cartoon (or perhaps it’s still on TV?) in which a Sheep Dog goes about protecting his sheep from a certain coyote, and the coyote doing all he can to snatch the sheep away? Each side trying to outsmart and out-manoeuvre the other, to get or keep the sheep. And then at the end of the day, the sheep dog and the coyote, one after the other, walks up to a time clock, and each inserts their punch card, marking the end of a day of work. The two then walk down the road together, talking as if they’d been best friends all their lives.

Are you on board? Are you with me?