and to participate in politics. At this stage, anyone who is of age can participate in politics. Next, you must be socially eligible: well educated, without a criminal record, well employed with at least middle-class financial status. Next, your participation in politics is evaluated. If you were to be more than qualified for each of these categories, you would be a candidate for a position as a political leader. This can be seen as a way in which the Prime Minister can appoint individuals to the senate. The idea of a "Triple E" senate, however, challenges this. Establishing a senate that is elected by the people, for the people, equally represented by each province, and as effective in the decision making process as the House of Commons would be essential to decreasing the level of elitism in Canadian politics. The Reform party and different interest groups have pushed for this for many years. However, the reality of this ideology is that if the senate was changed so that it mirrored the House of Commons, it probably wouldn’t be necessary to have the senate at all. Finally, there is an issue that deals with our political culture. Though we are a population of pluralist, we are also, as Gad Horowitz describes, Liberalists with a Tory touch. That is, we are traditionally liberalists with a certain amount of conservative values. What is remarkable is that this "Tory-Touched Liberal" idea mirrors the bases of political elitism. The priority of the individual and the freedom to have, better known as capitalism, coupled with democracy. Elitism is where this "Conservative Touch" comes in. This also applies to most nations that are based on a truly democratic system. However, like the aforementioned rule about elitism described by Van Loon and Whittington, it is needed to uphold democracy. These days, one political elite whose strength is comparable to a hydrogen bomb is the media. The media shapes public opinion in an incredible fashion...
