Emotional Reasons to dislike FPTP and to want to have Proportional Representation (PR)

Under the disproportional mis-representation produced by FPTP, Voters may feel coerced; silenced; powerless; dominated and/or alienated.

Here's what you might feel...

Coerced: I am not free to vote honestly

• I don’t feel free to vote my conscience.

• I feel forced to vote strategically.

• I feel trapped between voting honestly and voting effectively.

• I feel scared that if I vote freely, I could make things worse.

• I feel like I have to give my vote to a party that does not represent me.

• I feel like I have to betray my own politics.

• I feel like I am always voting against something instead of for something.

• I have to vote for the lesser of two evils.

Strategic voting essentially forces people to vote against their conscience. Proportional Representation allows people to vote freely.

Silenced: I'm trying to speak, but I'm not being heard

• No one is listening to me.

• My voice isn’t being heard.

• I feel ignored. My vote is just an afterthought.

• I feel like my views have no seat at the table.

Voting is supposed to give people a political voice. But under FPTP, many voices are institutionally silenced. In contrast, Proportional Representation carries more voices into power.

Powerless: Nothing I do seems to affect what happens

• My MP doesn’t stand or speak up for what I believe in.

• I can’t make political change happen.

• I feel powerless. Nothing I care about is acted upon by my MP.

• I feel like nothing I do changes the balance of power.

• I feel like my vote is being used against me.

• I feel like my choices are being made for me.

People rightly feel helpless and frustrated when denied political power. They're allowed to vote, just not to have any influence in parliament and the democratic decisions that follow. I think we do PR an injustice by simply referring to it as a fairer way to count votes. In reality, it's a more free, just and equal way to share power.  

Dominated: The system is against me

• I feel elections are “rigged.”

• I feel that the system is stacked against me.

• I feel punished for supporting what I actually believe in.

• I feel like a second-class citizen.

• I feel like the rules reward some voters and punish others.

• I feel the system gives power to some people and nothing to everyone else.

Domination is what happens when people are subject to power they cannot meaningfully influence, resist or control. It is not just that people lose an election. It is that the system repeatedly gives some citizens more access to political power than others.

Proportional Representation gives people freedom from felling of being controlled by others.

Alienated: I don't belong here

• My MP doesn’t represent me.

• I feel like my MP belongs to someone else.

• I feel politically homeless.

• I feel like there's no place for people like me in Parliament.

• I feel like an outsider, even when I vote.

Democracy runs on a sense of belonging. People need to feel that they have a political community to call home, and that their community has a legitimate place in Parliament.

Alienation is what happens when people stop seeing democracy as something they are part of. Proportional Representation gives us a place in parliament from which we can all belong.

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Essentially, people want to feel free, heard, empowered, protected, and included (or at least not excluded).

First Past the Post forces people to vote against their conscience, then silences millions of voters by denying them real power. People end up feeling ruled by a system that works against them, leading to a sense of alienation or lack of belonging.

I would say people support Proportional Representation because they are tired of being forced, silenced, powerless, dominated and politically homeless. 

In essence, Proportional Representation:

• Frees you from strategic voting

• Gives you the right to be heard in parliament

• Gives you access to power

• Gives you freedom from control

• Gives every political community a place in parliament

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Voters might ask themselves:

In the last city, provincial and federal election, did your vote elect someone?

(many or even most will say no)

Did you feel you had the ability to vote for whom you truly wanted elected, or did you vote in a way that you thought best to block the candidate you detested the most?

Is there anyone on city council that you think echoes your political sentiments?

in provincial government?

in the federal government, elected in your city or province?

Was your vote used to elect any of them?

Why should you feel forced to vote for someone you don't even like? 

Why should someone you disagree with be your voice in parliament?  

Why should someone who doesn't share your values have power over you in parliament?

Why should someone who doesn't care about your interests represent you in parliament?

If democracy is majority rule, why is the minority ruling?

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Ideas from others:

That makes us Equal Power Advocates: we believe citizens have a right to an equal share of democratic power.

Democratic power belongs to the people collectively. Similar to how shareholders are entitled to their share of a company, we are all shareholders of democracy. 

Every citizen has an equal claim to representation and the political freedom that comes with it. Political parties (aka political communities) are just how we exercise that power in parliament. They are the proxies that advance our interests, raise our politics, let us work together, and govern as one within the halls of power.