Democracy: Participatory vs Representational

[Rorschach]

Aussie... try addressing the issue not your personal bias towards me.
FD... no one said anything about doing away with parliament.

You want definitions?
really?

Democracy... government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system.

Some say it is government by the people for the people. Yet today we see that is an ideal not the reality.

Representative... a political system, where eligible people vote for candidates to carry out the business of governing on their behalf.

A system proving to be more and more flawed as the party takes precedence over the wider population. How many so called representatives actually represent any individuals views and concerns.

Participative... a system emphasizing the broad participation of constituents in the direction and operation of its polity's decisions.

Participatory democracy tends to advocate more involved forms of citizen participation than traditional representative democracy. It strives to create opportunities for all members of a population to make meaningful contributions to decision-making, and seeks to broaden the range of people who have access to such opportunities. CIR is one such process to be more inclusive, Switzerland is a country which has a much more participatory system than ours.

[Rorschach]

Aussie... IT... is set up in the fashion "the people" devise and agree to.

[freediver]

CIR sounds a lot like the American proposition system.

What do you think of voting by delegable proxy?

[Aussie]

CIR sounds a lot like the American proposition system.

What do you think of voting by delegable proxy?

Who do you delegate to, and how do they get to be in the position where people can delegate to them etc etc etc??????

[Rorschach]

Citizen Initiated Referenda is a policy backed by both The Australian Democrats and One Nation. I believe the DLP now champion it from our Senate. It is a part of the Direct Democracy initiative. it is also possible that other minor parties and independents also now advocate this sort of change. (Even if some people are oblivious as to what happens in our polity.)

'Citizens' Initiated Referendum - CIR - is the means whereby citizens can demand that a particular issue be put to a binding vote of the whole electorate. For the sake of brevity, Referendum is used to include both Initiative, (which relates to a new law) and referendum (which relates to a vote upon a law already enacted). In either case, CIR Australia advocates that if, say, 2% of the electors in any given jurisdiction sign a petition asking for a referendum, then the matter must be put to the electorate at the next general election.

CIR has been in operation in parts of Europe since 1874 and in parts of the USA since 1898. No jurisdiction has ever repealed CIR.

CIR Australia advocates Citizens' Initiated Referendum in the well founded belief that Australia is as capable as any other country of allowing its citizens to have a full say in their government.

http://www.cir-australia.net/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Switzerland

has always been an inspiration to all who genuinely love democracy. I couldn't count the number of times I have cited Switzerland as an example of what we should be doing in Australia. Just once I would love to hear someone expalin why direct democracy works so well in Switzerland - and it has since 1874 no less - but could not work as well in Australia. We will catch up to Switzerland one day but others are likely to get there before us.

[freediver]

CIR sounds fine to me, but I'd prefer to take it a step further and make it the norm, rather than the exception.

Who do you delegate to, and how do they get to be in the position where people can delegate to them etc etc etc??????

You delegate to sitting MPs. They get there via a petition signed by more people than the current worst-performing sitting MP, plus whatever factor you wish to add for stability.

Or you could invent your own mechanism. It's just details really. There are plenty of ways to sort them out, and they make little difference to the outcome.

[Aussie]

Citizen Initiated Referenda is a policy backed by both The Australian Democrats and One Nation. I believe the DLP now champion it from our Senate. It is a part of the Direct Democracy initiative. it is also possible that other minor parties and independents also now advocate this sort of change. (Even if some people are oblivious as to what happens in our polity.)

'Citizens' Initiated Referendum - CIR - is the means whereby citizens can demand that a particular issue be put to a binding vote of the whole electorate. For the sake of brevity, Referendum is used to include both Initiative, (which relates to a new law) and referendum (which relates to a vote upon a law already enacted). In either case, CIR Australia advocates that if, say, 2% of the electors in any given jurisdiction sign a petition asking for a referendum, then the matter must be put to the electorate at the next general election.

CIR has been in operation in parts of Europe since 1874 and in parts of the USA since 1898. No jurisdiction has ever repealed CIR.

CIR Australia advocates Citizens' Initiated Referendum in the well founded belief that Australia is as capable as any other country of allowing its citizens to have a full say in their government.

http://www.cir-australia.net/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Switzerland

has always been an inspiration to all who genuinely love democracy. I couldn't count the number of times I have cited Switzerland as an example of what we should be doing in Australia. Just once I would love to hear someone expalin why direct democracy works so well in Switzerland - and it has since 1874 no less - but could not work as well in Australia. We will catch up to Switzerland one day but others are likely to get there before us.

Isn't that one of LaRoach's and Hubbard's voodoo chants?

[Aussie]

CIR sounds fine to me, but I'd prefer to take it a step further and make it the norm, rather than the exception.

Who do you delegate to, and how do they get to be in the position where people can delegate to them etc etc etc??????

You delegate to sitting MPs. They get there via a petition signed by more people than the current worst-performing sitting MP, plus whatever factor you wish to add for stability.

Or you could invent your own mechanism. It's just details really. There are plenty of ways to sort them out, and they make little difference to the outcome.

Don't need them or Parliaments do we. The Net will do the trick etc etc etc.

[freediver]

Actually, one problem I have with CIR is that it is cumbersome. It would be better to incorporate it into the legislative process rather than make it reactionary.

Don't need them or Parliaments do we. The Net will do the trick etc etc etc.

Aussie, what do you think I meant by "sitting MPs"?

[Aussie]

Actually, one problem I have with CIR is that it is cumbersome. It would be better to incorporate it into the legislative process rather than make it reactionary.

Don't need them or Parliaments do we. The Net will do the trick etc etc etc.

Aussie, what do you think I meant by "sitting MPs"?

MP's elected by us to sit in Parliament. What did you mean by 'sitting MPs,' freediver?