schoolyard or parliament?

This morning my seven year old, reading over my shoulder (as usual - I wonder what the acronym for that would be? cos? cRw?) wanted to know what parliament was up to. There are a lot of news stories about that, and I'm trying to keep informed. Not that I can do anything much, but I want to learn about the interesting vagaries of our constitutional monarchy that allow for the concept of this coalition thing.

Anyway, she wanted to know what it was about. So, I'm trying to explain. When I see her eyes glaze over in discussion of Liberal & NDP I reverted to an analogy using her school. Luckily, we have classes with different populations. So, the Conservatives became the grade 5's (have the most people by themselves), the grade 4's became the Bloc, grade 3 was the Liberals and grade 2 the NDP. At this point I'm inwardly giggling, realizing how true this is.

The explanation that the Grade fives had done something silly with their power and now the grade 2, 3 & 4 were joining together to make a team to try to run the country worked well. Explaining that grade four were in it just for themselves, as they really didn't care about the rest of the school also was taken in stride (that brings different concerns about the real grade four, but that is where a lot of her frenemies are...)

We closed the discussion with the idea that the principal is going to have to step in and either close school for the rest of the year or call an election or tell which "team" to lead, and that she had a tough job. And the superintendent is ultimately in charge, across the ocean.

I'm really unsure that our parliamentary system should be analogous to an elementary school playground, but the similarities are certainly there.

She came back to ask how anything can get done in the country if the classes are having fights. I had to tell her that nothing is getting done. For us, it means that the act of parliament allowing for the final payment on our 2007-08 wheat board crops will not likely pass until this is figured out. Merry Christmas - you're not getting paid, because we're having a schoolyard brawl.

It's amazing how a seven year old can figure out what really matters...