Democracy (was : RE: [SC.LUG] Bill Gates to be Knighted?)

[Matthew Tolley]

Hi Guys!

Sorry I missed you - I've been on the beach and taking time out this last
couple of weeks - you even had a big debate and didn't invite me you
rotters!!

Hmmm, a democratic society? Let me think...

First, we abolish the office of Prime Minister and instead have all Senior
Ministers elected directly by the people - the Chancellor, Transport
Minister, Home Secretary, Foreign Secretary etc. At this point we would also
need to create a Minister of Elections and Referenda.

Second, we remove all legislative powers from Parliament and have all laws
made, amended and repealed by referendum. Once a month we all get a report
of the questions to be put, go down to the polling station and put ticks or
crosses next to the questions on the card, plus we choose our preferred
candidate for office if an election is taking place at the same time.
If we want to put a question to referendum oursleves, we just collect a
reasonable number of signatures (say 5000), forward them to the Minister for
Referenda, and our question appears nationwide the next month. Ministers
could also be elected, sacked and replaced by referendum.

Next, we scrap Parliament and replace it with an Elected Council of, say, 20
wise and senior persons which will act as a Watchdog over the democracy. It
will have the power to summon Ministers, demand accounts, hear witnesses,
and generally make sure that everyone is doing their job honestly. It should
have the power to sack Ministers in cases of serious abuse, and call an
election for a replacement to be chosen. No legislative powers though.

Also, we give precedence to smaller rather than larger groups. If the people
of Cheshire want to keep their District Councils, they can have a local
referendum to decide the matter (it should not be decided by Diktat of
Number 10, as is happening now). If the people of Derbyshire want to reduce
the voting age to 16 in their County, they can pass such a law. If the
people of North Staffordshire want their own Minister of Health, they can
enact that, and secede from the NHS! If the people of Nantwich want to
legalise Cannabis in Nantwich, they can decide that too. If Macclesfield
wants to ban newspapers and magazines containing nudity, they can do. If
Wilmslow wants to make nude pictures in newspapers compulsory, it could do.
Congleton wants to scrap income tax for its residents? Let them scrap it!
Local citizens would have the power to decide the boundaries, offices and
powers of their local authorities.

You get the picture.

Lastly, you enshrine these principles in a written constitution. There could
be a few minimum standards of human rights in the constitution - no law,
however popular, should be passed preventing someone from leaving a
particular district, or leaving the country, for example. The localities
should be prevented from raising private armies to prevent civil war, as
another example. Other than those basics, leave it to the people.

If you wanted the democracy to have a figurehead, you could have an elected
Predident or a monarchy. Just let the people decide. The system would still
work like clockwork whichever we chose.

Any objections to this democratic system, chaps?

Jason, what do you think?



Matthew




-----Original Message-----
From: sc-bounces at mailman.lug.org.uk
[mailto:sc-bounces at mailman.lug.org.uk]On Behalf Of Jason Lucas
Sent: 25 January 2004 22:55
To: dh at iucr.org
Cc: South Cheshire GNU/Linux Users; Debbie Lucas; Rob Smith
Subject: Re: [SC.LUG] Bill Gates to be Knighted?


Or, as commonly quoted by Archaeologists - it's not what you know, it's
who you know. Weber wrote some stuff about that - essentially it's the
old boy's/girl's network. i.e - never underestimate the power of the
Women's Institute, or indeed, the existent Aristocracy. There is no such
thing as a truly democratic society. Never has been, never will be.

However, I would be interested in views on how a purely democratic
society would work.

Jason.


On Sun, 2004-01-25 at 20:37, David Holden wrote:
> On Sunday 25 Jan 2004 8:19 pm, Jason Lucas wrote:
> > According to the Telegraph
> >
(http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/01/25/ngates25.x
> >ml&sSheet=/news/2004/01/25/ixnewstop.html) (& reported on slashdot), Bill
> > Gates is apparently due for a Knighthood. Presumably this will be part
of
> > the terms and conditions for Newham Council's budget M$ deal that
displaced
> > Linux as a contender for the Council's desktop environment. If other
> > councils follow suit, does that mean that Gates will be made next
in-line
> > for the throne?
> >
> > Can you image it - Long Live King Bill Gates III!
> >
> > ttfn
> >
> > Jason.
> >
> >
>
>
> It would just prove what a joke the honours are - its all about patronage.
>
>  Dave.
>


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