Referendum Reality? Half in Alberta & Saskatchewan call for vote on independence, but fewer would actually leave (lemmy.ca)

submitted 1 day ago by avidamoeba@lemmy.ca to c/canada@lemmy.ca

22 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Source: https://angusreid.org/referendum-alberta-saskatchewan-smith-moe/

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[-] streetfestival@lemmy.ca 29 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Is this populism? Is this Trumpism? Instead of running the province well and communicating that to the electorate, you make up the idea of a referendum on an asinine idea and then market it as "listening to the people." Irresponsible and effortless

[-] considerealization@lemmy.ca 6 points 1 day ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Road_to_Unfreedom has an interesting take on the wave of separatist movements. It traces it to a reactionary “politics of eternity”, which is being supported and advanced by authoritarian regimes to undermine the established order based on trade democratic deliberation. See, e.g., https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_interference_in_the_2016_Brexit_referendum

Now that X and Meta have become dedicated propaganda platforms, and I don’t know that it’s even possible for the government or researchers to get the needed access to determine if there are bad actors manipulating the public in this way now.

From Snyders view, one of the aims of this global effort is to convince people that coordination via democratic deliberation doesn’t work. Proposing ridiculous, highly polarizing referendums and tricking as many people as possible into voting for the most absurd option is a great way to convince everyone that democratic process are stupid, since that is the most degenerate form of democratic activity.