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November 20, 2003
Demonstrations again
So G W Bush has arrived safe and sound. The protestors have been raging and fuming and marching and so far as I can see he hasn't seen any, and they haven't done anything except cost a huge amount of taxpayers money and cause massive disruption of traffic in central London. Will anyone take any notice? On previous record, probably not.
It seems to me that we need to completely rethink the whole democratic process. The tools exist for wider consultation and including the populace in the process of governing. Its called the internet. But, it seems to me that no politician will ever admit that the populace at large should be given a wider say than just who sits in these expensive talking shops called parliaments. Good grief, it might mean their gravy train hits the buffers!
Think about it. At present you have a vote which may or may not be a crucial tool in selecting who is elected to govern. But, once elected they are a law unto themselves and have little obligation to take any notice of you until the next election. This, I believe, is what motivates the demonstrators. If, on the other hand, the government had to have an approval vote on every item in their manifesto at the election, and anything outside of that had to go to a plebiscite - which could be electronically managed and taken - the politicians would find themselves actually having to listen to the electorate.
On second thought it would never work. Politicians listen?
Posted by The Gray Monk at November 20, 2003 12:42 PM