Andrew Coyne > Quotes

“A society that believes in nothing can offer no argument even against death. A culture that has lost its faith in life cannot comprehend why it should be endured.”
― Andrew Coyne

“Or perhaps the better way of grasping it is to imagine a counterfactual: what if we had a parliament that mattered? What if we had elections that mattered? What if the candidates in each riding really were the choices of their communities as represented by their local riding associations? What if MPs had greater independence to represent their constituents in Parliament? What if leaders had to answer to their caucus, and governments had to answer to the House? What if Cabinet government were a reality and not a polite fiction? What if parties had to battle for votes in every part of the country, in every riding in the country? What if all of us were represented in Parliament, and not that diminishing fraction of the voters in each riding that happen to support the winning party? What if 90 percent or more of the electorate showed up to vote, instead of 60 percent or less? What if governments really represented a majority of the voters, and not the fraction of a fraction that now passes for a mandate?”
― Andrew Coyne, The Crisis of Canadian Democracy

“So politics has always been rotten; that hasn't changed. It has always been low and stupid and manipulative. Now it is simply low and stupid and manipulative in new and more technologically advanced ways. What has changed is people's willingness to put up with it. To be blunt, the public isn't buying what the politicians are selling.”
― Andrew Coyne, The Crisis of Canadian Democracy