Why I don't see myself in the NDP
I wasn’t excited about the Ontario Election, especially in a district where the outcome seemed certain. It is the Electoral District that matters, not some false notion of a Provincial party or party-leader centric campaign.
I then saw some targeted campaign advertisements (YouTube, Facebook, other social media and streaming services) from the local NDP candidate that made me decide to vote: against that candidate.
While the NDP candidates have mostly been a distant third place in this district, no district is perfectly safe from vote splitting caused by not yet using Ranked Choice Voting. Ranked ballots are used in so many other places, from chosing party leaders to electing the speaker federally (Ontario still uses inefficient multiple runoff ballots rather than instant runoff), but some hyper-partisan interests continue to block this obvious reform for municipal, provincial and federal elections.
As the NDP remains focused on the party itself rather than the importance of individuals collaborating across ideological silos (both at the local level and within parliament), the individual candidate shouldn’t take this personally. The party campaigns on the belief that people don’t matter as much as corporate party brands and corporate party executives do.
I have written about my views on various political parties before, but as I learn more about myself as an Autistic person I am better able to understand why I have these views.
This interview with Avi Lewis has me thinking about why I still don't see myaelf in the NDP, even as I like individual parliamentarians and other individuals who self-identify with that brand.
In the 1990’s I would regularly say: the Left see the problems in big corporations, and the Right see problems in big government and big unions. I see the problem in “big”.
While NDP talk of grassroots organizing, what I have observed is a push to observe strict hierarchies. The local and individual marketing feels like network-marketing where the grassroots are promoting the brand. My parents sold Amway, and that is how the NDP continues to feel to me.
The discussions around solidarity feel far more like a call for conformity. I am a believer in decentralized governance, and my specific Autism profile has made me naturally skeptical of social hierarchies (for decades before I accepted I’m Autistic).
Top -down external party brand conformity vs post-debate caucus solidarity where elected caucus members are treated as equals.
BC NDP position on violations of UNDRIP (Wet'suwet'en, #ShutDownCanada , BC RCMP violence carrying out BC NDP maintained racist provincial law, etc)
Position on party top-ups and the harmful/centralizing notion of “party popular vote”. Federally and provincially the NDP are constantly campaigning on bringing in more blind party devotees into parliament. During this campaign the NDP have made clear they want to add party top-ups to the existing FPTP. Campaigners will use the term mixed-member proportional, to try to hide the fact that it is just FPTP with all its widely recognized flaws, with party top-ups which adds additional political silo maintaining flaws.
Campaigning against ranked ballots, which would solve vote splitting issues and force candidates to be more collaborative (before, during and after elections). I am not into competition, and believe devolving politics to be like a sport where the colour of the team jersey is the focus is anti-democratic.
What the Ontario NDP did to Sarah Jama sounded familiar to how I was pushed out of my former workplace for not understanding and not confirming to social hierarchies. Why bother recruiting great people if only a tiny few in the leaders office are able to have a real voice? This top-down decision making of the Ontario NDP executive is reason alone to dismiss the NDP for consideration, but in this case it was also over the NDP’s avoiding calling out an ongoing genocide!
I have donated to specific NDP candidates, and once voted for an NDP candidate despite and not because of party affiliation. I felt in the 2021 federal election that Huda Mukbil would be her own person, and might even have stirred up the NDP from its status-quo. What I saw happen with Sarah Jama in Ontario changed my mind on that.
I support several NDP candidates and members of parliaments, but not the party.
I will be attending the online event to acclaim Leah Gazan as the Winnipeg Centre NDP candidate for the next federal election. Since I am yet again offering support for a member of parliament who is in the NDP caucus, I felt it worth discussing my current thoughts on the NDP.