Random Blog Post of the Day: Arkansas Sen. Mark Pryor Links Opponent to Ebola Outbreak

Democratic Senator Mark Pryor of Arkansas

Though I'm not an American citizen when it comes to American Politics most of the time I would support/agree with the Democrats over the Republicans, though in this case I Don't agree with the Senator from Arkansas Mark Pryor linking his Republican opponent to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. I think thats a little desperate on Senator Pryor's part because the Ebola outbreak is a serious issue, and has absolutely nothing to do with this years Senate race in Arkansas or his Republican opponent Representative Tom Cotton. Plus I think if you are going to attack your political opponent in an add (this can be seen below)  you shouldn't use something like the Ebola outbreak.

Link to article: http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/arkansas-sen-mark-pryor-links-opponent-ebola-outbreak-n189461

Random Blog Post of the Day: Mayor of London, England Boris Johnson confirms Uxbridge as target seat

Current Mayor of London, England and Former MP for Henley

I admit when it comes to British Politics I don't know much about it, but from what I have read and seen about the current Mayor of London and former MP Boris Johnson I think he would make a somewhat good MP. The reason for this being that he used to be an MP for Henley before becoming  Mayor, and the fact that he has been twice elected Mayor of London as the Conservative Party candidate both times with slightly over 50% of the popular vote. There are also rumours that if the current Prime Minister of Great Britain David Cameron steps down after next years general election because of not being able to deliver on his promise of holding a referendum on whether or not Britain should stay in the European Union (EU) that Jonnson himself would seek to be the leader of the Conservative Party. Though I wouldn't support the party myself if I were a British citizen, I still think he would make a good leader of the Conservative Party and certainly a more likable one.

Link to article:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-28935394

Random Blog Post of the Day: Labour's three gender options for passports

Labour Party MP for Manurewa Louisa Wall

Louisa Wall (she also introduced her same sex marriage bill which got passed into law in New Zealand last year) has released one of the Labour Parties policies, which is that under a Labour led Government they would have three gender options for passports as well as drivers' licences. Usually I don't tend to support Labours policies but I fully support this one because I think it will go some way to ending discrimination againt the LGBTI (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and ) community in New Zealand, though in an election year I don't think it will get them many more votes. A better part of the policy in my opinion is that Labour wants the laws changed so that so that couples who are not married or same sex couples in a civil union can adopt. The Labour Party also wants better support for young people who are bullied because of their sexual identities, I think this part of the policy along with the part about adoption will be more likely to get them votes . So to end I fully support this policy from the Labour Party even though I usually don't tend to support their other ones.

Link to article:  http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11314694

Random Blog Post of the Day: Key says daughter should be off limits

Prime Minister John Key

I wholeheartedly agree with the Prime Minister John Key on this, the hip hop band @peace in a song they did criticising him as Prime Minister referenced to his daughter. I think as well as his daughter the rest of his family should be off limits as well, because none of them are even relevant to his job as Prime Minister or to the New Zealand General Election this year. Not even the Labour Party who are National's main opposition in parliament have used his family or more specifically his daughter in any of their attacks against him at any point since he became Prime Minister in 2008. I think @peace are just being petty by doing this and just trying to get some attention by taking advantage of it being an election year in the country.

Link to article:  http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=11314552

Tim Scott of @peace

Canadian Politics: The Political System of Canada

The Canadian political system is First Past the Post where there are a certain number of electoral districts and each of those has a representative in parliament. In the case of Canada there are 308 electoral districts with each one having a Representative (British Columbia has 36, Alberta has 28, Saskatchewan has 14, Manitoba also has 14, Ontario has 106, Quebec has 75, Newfoundland and Labrador has 7, Nova Scotia has 11, New Brunswick has 10 and Prince Edward Island has 4. Yukon, Nunavut and the Northwest Territories each have one).

As well as the House of Commons Canada also has an upper house called the Senate, the members of the Senate are appointed by the Governor General of Canada on the recommendation of the Prime Minister (the current one is Steven Harper of the Conservative Party of Canada). The Senate currently has 105 members drawn from each of the provinces and territories, with British Columbia having 5, Alberta 6, Saskatchewan 6, Manitoba 3, Ontario 20, Quebec 21, Newfoundland and Labrador 6, Nova Scotia 8, New Brunswick 10 and Prince Edward Island 3. Yukon, Nunavut and the Northwest Territories each have one Senator.

 

 

Political Parties with Federal Representation in Canada

Conservative Party of Canada:

Founded: 2003

Leader: Stephen Harper (2004 to present, Prime Minister of Canada 2006 to present)

Number of Seats in the Senate: 57

Number of Seats in the House of Commons: 161

New Democratic Party:

Founded: 1961

Leader: Thomas Mulcair (2012 to present, Leader of the Opposition 2012 to Present)

Number of Seats in the Senate: 0

Number of Seats in the House of Commons: 99

Liberal Party of Canada:

Founded: 1867

Leader: Justin Trudeau (2013 to Present)

Number of Seats in the Senate: 32

Number of Seats in the House of Commons: 36 

Bloc Québécois:

Founded: 1991

Leader: Mario Beaulieu (June 25, 2014 to present)

Number of Seats in the Senate: 0

Number of Seats in the House of Commons: 3

Green Party of Canada:

Founded: 1983

Leader: Elizabeth May (2006 to Present)

Number of Seats in the Senate: 0

Number of Seats in the House of Commons: 2

New Zealand Politics: My opinion on why it's a bad idea for a minor political party to do an electoral deal with the National Party

Former MP and Act Party leader John Banks (left) and Prime Minster John Key having a cup of tea in Epsom

The reason why I think it's a bad idea for a minor political party to do an electoral deal with the National Party is that it makes them too reliant on effectively being given a seat, and not concentrating enough on getting over the five percent threshold (this is the minimum amount of the popular vote which a political party has to get to gain representation in parliament). An example of this is the electoral deal in Epsom that the National Party did with the Act Party in 2011, overall Act got 1.07% of the popular vote and normally would not have got back into parliament, but because of the deal it did with National shown in the picture above they managed to get one seat. Now in 2014 leading up to the General Election this year the One News Colmar Brunton Poll from the 19th to the 23rd of July  has the Act at 1% support. Another Colmar Brunton Poll this one of the Epsom electorate initially had the National candidate Paul Goldsmith at 44% of the vote and Act candidate David Seymour at 32%, it was only when they reminded people about the deal between National and Act  that David Seymour took the lead with 45% to Paul Goldsmith's 31%. My further opinion on this is that Act should concentrate on getting it's percentage of the popular vote up to what it was at the 1996, 1999 and 2002 General Elections, these were 6.1%, 7% and 7.1% respectively. These are the reasons why I think it's a bad idea for a minor political party to do a deal with the National party especially if your Act who without an electoral deal with National would be going the way of the Dodo.

A General Timeline of some of the historical and current Third Parties in the United States

Just some of the logos of some of the third parties currently in the United States

•  Anti-Masonic Party: This party was founded in 1828 and dissolved around ten years later in 1838. They ran a candidate in the 1832 U.S. Presidential Election, it was former United States Attorney General William Wirt who manged to win the state of Vermont and get seven electoral votes, as well as this he got around about 7.8% of the popular vote.
 

• Free-Soil Party: This party was founded in 1848 and dissolved in 1854. This party ran two candidates, the first was former President Martin Van Buren (1837-1841), despite being a former President he did not win any electoral votes and only 10% of the popular vote. Their second candidate who they ran in the 1852 Presidential Election was John P. Hale who again won no electoral votes and only 4.9% of the popular vote.

•   Know Nothing/American Party: This party was founded around about 1845 and dissolved in 1860. Their candidate who they ran in the 1856 Presidential Election was former President Millard Fillmore (1850-1853) who won the state of Maryland getting eight electoral votes. He managed to get 21.5% of the popular vote which for a third party in the United States is pretty good.

• Constitutional Union Party: This party was founded in 1859 and dissolved around 1865. The only candidate they ever ran in an election was John Bell in the 1860 Presidential Election, in this election Bell won the states of Virginia, Kentucky and his home state of Tennessee giving him 39 electoral votes and 12.6% of the popular vote. What I find interesting about this election is that John Bell came third (this was because of the split in the Democratic Party) behind Abraham Lincoln of Republican party who got 180 electoral votes and John C. Breckinridge of the Southern Democrats who got 72 electoral votes. Below John Bell in terms of the number of electoral votes was Stephen A. Douglas of the Democratic party who got 12 electoral votes.

• Populist Party: This party was founded in 1891 and dissolved around seventeen years later in 1908. Their candidate in the 1892 Presidential Election was James B. Weaver who won the states of Kansas, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada and won some electoral votes in the states of North Dakota and Oregon, he also won 8.5% of the popular vote.

• Progressive Party: This party was founded in 1912 by former President Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909) and dissolved in 1916. Their candidate in the 1912 Presidential Election was the party founder himself Theodore Roosevelt who won the states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Minnesota, South Dakota, Washington and won a majority of the electoral votes in the state of California. This gave him eighty eight electoral votes and 27.4% of the popular vote.

•  Progressive Party (1924): This party was founded in 1924 and dissolved around 1946. Their candidate in this election was Robert M. La Follette Sr who only won the state of Wisconsin where he was from. This gave him thirteen electoral votes and 16.6% of the popular vote.

• States Rights Democratic Party (Dixiecrats): This party was founded in 1948 and dissolved in that same year. Their candidate in the 1948 Presidential Election was Strom Thurmond who won the states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina and one electoral vote in the state of Tennessee. This gave him thirty nine electoral votes, he also got 2.4% of the popular vote.

• American Independent Party: This party was founded in 1967 and has not been dissolved as of August 2014. Their most successful candidate was George Wallace who in the 1968 Presidential Election won the states of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and one electoral vote in North Carolina. This gave him forty six electoral votes as well as 13.5% of the popular vote.

• Reform Party:  This party was founded in 1995 by Texas billionaire Ross Perot who had run in the 1992 Presidential Election as an independent and got 18.9% of the popular vote. In the 1996 Presidential Election as the Reform Party candidate he did not win any electoral votes and only 8.4% of the popular vote.

• Green Party of the United States: This party was founded in 1991 and has contested every presidential election since 1996. Their most successful candidate was Ralph Nader who in the 2000 Presidential election got 2.74% of the popular vote.

• Libertarian Party: This  was founded in 1971 and is currently the largest third party in the United States. It has contested every Presidential Election since 1972 with their most successful candidate being Ed Clark in 1980 where he got 1.06% of the popular vote.

• Justice Party: This party was founded in 2011. Their only Presidential candidate so far has been former Mayor of Salt Lake City Utah Rocky Anderson who in the 2012 Presidential Election got 0.03% of the popular vote.

•  Constitution Party: This party was originally founded as the U.S. Tax Payers' party in 1992 but changed its name to its current one in 1999. This party has contested every Presidential Election since 1992 with its most successful Presidential candidate being Howard Phillips who in the 1996 Presidential Election got 0.19% of the popular vote.