WAYS TO BETTER DEMOCRACY AFTER
UK's "BREXIT" REFERENDUM
Statement by
Campaign
for direct democracy in Britain
Late June 2016
After the Brexit result many are now asking, should we
have more referenda or do they do more harm than good?
This invites the question, can we improve the quality of
our democracy and the ways in which we conduct our
public affairs?
Our democracy is way out of date and badly designed so
that elected politicians often fail to represent the
majority of us.
In recent years Government and Parliament have carried
out ballots, referenda about: Scottish independence; the
House of Commons electoral system (alternative vote);
the European Union. As ruling politicians see it, with
these ballots they were asking the people for their
opinion about an important public issue. The results of
these votes are *not* legally binding but are only
advisory and may be ignored by the government of the
day. This is weak democracy of poor quality.
In our opinion our state needs more and better
democracy, not less. The right to initiate a referendum
should belong to the people (acting through the
electorate) and not lie only, as now in effect, with the
government.
What is meant by "more and better democracy"?
For instance, a large number of voters should be
able to start a veto referendum of government policy or
make a formal proposal for electoral decision (ballot)
on new law. See more detail at
http://www.iniref.org
Campaign for direct democracy in Britain
Citizens' Initiative and Referendum I&R ~ GB
http://www.iniref.org/enter.html
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DEMOCRACY REFORMS IN
SWEDEN OFFER GUIDANCE FOR BRITAIN
Stronger rights of
electors to govern their own affairs now anchored in
constitution
For the around 300 local authorities and 26 regions the
Swedes introduced from the beginning of 2011
1. Citizens' law-proposal (initiative)
2. Right (improved) to demand a plebiscite (decision by
the electorate, "referendum").
These changes strengthen the role of citizens in regional
and local government. Before this reform there was a
citizens' right to demand a referendum but this could be
refused by the governing authority.
Swedish attention to detail for good governance is
illustrated by some accompanying innovations. They propose
to build a "comprehensive direct-democratic
infrastructure" (Kaufmann), with local advice centres for
voters who wish to contribute to governance and exploit
their new democratic rights. Also planned is a national
institution for political participation, which will inform
citizens and support and encourage the newly introduced
"direct" democracy.
The rules for citizens' initiative and referendum were
laid down by revision of the constitution of state which
came into force in January 2011.
--------------
Summarised from: Bruno Kaufmann, "A more democratic
Sweden": Demokratischeres Schweden md magazin Nr.88,
1/2011 published by mehr-demokratie.de
key words, tags: direct democracy, citizens initiative,
ballot
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ANTI-CUTS? FINANCIAL AND ECONOMIC DIRECT DEMOCRACY
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BIG IDEA
FOR UK GENERAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN 2010
irgb wrote in The Independent:
Tuesday, 30 March 2010 at 08:37 am (UTC)
The INdirect democracy of political parties and parliament has
performed badly and this shows up in the anger and despair of
many voters.
People see government as out of control, way beyond
representation of the people, and parliament as weak, servile
and, perhaps pitiably, corrupt.
Just giving away a vote to a candidate once every five years
is a poor way to run and manage our (own) public affairs.
Practically speaking there is no way to abolish the political
parties and institutions of government.
So how can things be improved?
THE BIG IDEA Partial Direct Democracy.
This gives us, the voters, a say in what politicians are doing
in the periods between elections.
How it works.
1) A BRAKE on runaway government. With the optional
veto-referendum a parliamentary bill or recently passed law
can be referred to the people. Say, half a million
endorsements (signatures) collected with a few months can
trigger a veto referendum.
2) INPUT BY THE OWNERS The citizens' law proposal (initiative)
allows ideas which have gathered huge support to go onto the
public agenda for debate. Parliament is obliged to debate
these proposals. If rejected, the proposal goes to binding
referendum of the whole electorate. Regulations for "the
citizens' initiative" are set to avoid overwhelming the system
with proposals. This sort of democracy generates much public
debate and encourages people to become involved.
3) SACK BAD MPs The "Recall" procedures is a citizens'
initiative within a constituency. If an agreed large number of
voters call for an MP to go, a ballot must be held to decide
her/his fate. If the Recall succeeds a by-election must be
held.
More detail about these "
DEMOCRACY
APPS" may be found in www, see
http://www.iniref.org/index.enter.html
Charter88
Citizen Extra:
General
Election Manifesto Download
I&R ~ GB Citizens' Initiative and Referendum
Campaign for direct democracy in Britain
========================================
In reply to:
You can both go hang, say voters
50 per cent say choosing Brown is unthinkable... 51 per cent
claim they have no enthusiasm for Tories...
The Independent Tuesday, 30 March 2010
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/you-can-both-go-hang-say-voters-1930647.html
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ELECTION CAMPAIGN: WISE MEN TALKING
So the general election road show revs up. Dazzling talk show
heroes attempt to convince us of their competence to deal with
all problems, political and global eventualities for
another five year term. Of course, they also wish to distract
attention away from serious flaws in our democracy and
governance.
Just giving away your vote to a candidate once every five
years is seen by many as inadequate. Events crop up, many
policy areas cannot be covered during an election campaign. Do
we not need better democracy than this?
Have you decide to stay at home on polling day? To abstain? To
modify your ballot paper by writing "<b>None of the
above</b>"?
If so you may consider using our
Constructive Protest Vote
See the
GUIDE
FOR
VOTERS, NON-VOTERS AND THE UNDECIDED
===========
"Last night's televised debate on Channel 4 between the
would-be next chancellors of the exchequer Ed Balls excepted
was a victory for serious televised political argument. It
did all the participants Alistair Darling, George Osborne
and Vince Cable considerable credit."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/mar/30/darling-osborne-cable-economic-policy
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VETO-REFERENDUM TO COUNTER PARTY WHEELER DEALING
Surely we, the electorate, should be able to veto laws which
are unwanted or bad. Having this right to veto certainly make
the political parties pay, in advance of legislating, more
respect to the interests of voters.
This is the facultative (optional) referendum. With a bit of
practice it's easy to operate ;-)
In order to force a referendum on a bill in parliament, a
large number of endorsements must be collected within a fairly
short time period, say three months.
More about citizen-led democracy at our web site.
I&R ~ GB Citizens' Initiative and Referendum
Campaign for direct democracy in Britain
http://www.iniref.org/ election campaign
http://www.iniref.org/index.enter.html
===========================
In reply to: "The season of the wash-up is upon us. This
unfortunately has nothing to do with cleansing parliament from
its many stains of corruption more necessary now than ever.
It is the term used to describe the negotiations between the
parties to decide which bills will survive at the end of the
parliamentary session and which will not. It is a secretive
process, the modern equivalent of the smoke-filled room."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/mar/28/pre-election-parliamentary-wash-up
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SIMPLISTIC GOVERNMENT CAMPAIGNS, DEMOCRACY DEFICIT
What you describe are features of poor political culture.
Given the problems which we all face, for example the climate
change which you mention but also global financial instability
and persisting extreme poverty, we urgently need better
governance to run our public affairs with more creativity,
responsibility and generosity.
One aspect of our poor governance is a lack of democracy. In
UK and its countries we have only indirect democracy which
allows us to "decide" on political issues once every five or
so years, when as voters we are supposed to "best guess" the
whole range of policy. There is no way for the electorate to
intervene on urgent issues or indeed on new problems which
crop up between elections.
There are methods of democracy which allow "fine tuning" of
public policy and veto of unwanted law or government action.
These include the law-proposal (initiative) and the citizens'
referendum. To introduce these democratic "tools", as most
politicians oppose them, will need strong public will for
reform. Several projects linked as follows offer information
and assistance: Index http://www.iniref.org/index.enter.html
Basic presentation http://www.iniref.org/steps.html
Sign up for reform http://www.iniref.org/ballot.html UK
general election tactics http://www.iniref.org/carta.htm
Links
http://campaignfordemocracy.org.uk/directdemocracyexamples/
http://www2.prestel.co.uk/rodmell/
===========================
In reply to:
When was it that the Government started openly treating the
public as idiots or, rather, as very young children who can
be patronised and brain-washed in this embarrassing, inept
fashion?
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/terence-blacker/terence-blacker-the-march-of-playground-morality-1923662.html
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