Monbiot comes out as a real democrat
George Monbiot, a well known critic of prevailing politics and pro-environment activist, has "outed" himself as a democrat! A rare bird among British journalists. In today's Guardian newspaper (seen on-line) he proposes that we in the UK should introduce elements of citizen-led direct democracy.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/oct/18/referendums-bad-press-fix-britain-more-of-them-participatory-democracy
Here are a few quoted snippets from his article:
"You lost, suck it up: this is how our politics works. If the party you voted for lost the election, you have no meaningful democratic voice for the next five years. You can go through life, in this “representative democracy”, unrepresented in government, while not being permitted to represent yourself.
Even if your party is elected, it washes its hands of you when you leave the polling booth. Governments assert a mandate for any policy they can push through parliament. While elections tend to hinge on one or two issues, parties will use their win to claim support for all the positions in their manifestos, and for anything else they decide to do during their term in office."
"Political control under this system is so coarse and diffuse that democracy loses all but its crudest meaning"
{Monbiot proposes} "three models that we could draw upon."
"The first is the Swiss system. There, the people vote in about 10 or a dozen referendums a year, clustered into three or four polling days, challenging federal laws or proposing constitutional amendments. Referendums are triggered when someone can gather enough signatures. These plebiscites foster a strong sense of political ownership: people perceive that government belongs to them. This might explain why, in its survey of 40 nations, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development discovered the Swiss had the highest levels of trust in government. Far from causing voter fatigue, the process stimulates a rich culture of engagement, debate and persuasion. Across the year, about 80% of the electorate vote in referendums."
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Dear Reader, Please circulate this and other appeals for more direct democracy via social media, e-mail etc.. Target Facebook: This company has blocked and censored our Campaign for Direct Democracy pages at its web site.
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Circulated by:
Campaign for direct democracy in Britain
Citizens' Initiative and Referendum I&R ~ GB
http://www.iniref.org/ Link to site index
Contact: info@iniref.org