From: | "Jim Powell" <autoinfo(at)acenet.co.za> |
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Date: | Wed, 23 Sep 2009 16:39:09 +0200 |
Subject: | RE: [WDDM] Response to Hamid Mohseni |
Hi Hamid, I see that the officials and politicians have specific jobs to do similar to the managers and directors of companies Each of us has a single share in our company (country) and that share is called a vote. We expect our managers and directors to do a good job as we get on with our lives. When it comes to our notice that the company (country) is not being run properly, we must have the facility to intervene. That is the starting point of direct democracy Seems to work well in Switzerland where 97% of the legislation created by the politicians goes unchallenged. Seems a good system to me. Regards Jim Powell From: Hamid Mohseni
[esi1mohseni2(at)hotmail.com] The
problem is that we are living in a changing world. What seems right for a
voter today can be wrong for him tomorrow. From: autoinfo(at)acenet.co.za Hi Hamid, Exactly the point With Direct Democracy the voters decide what they want to delegate to officials and politicians. There is not another economic institution where the employees tells the employers what to do For those of you who have not seen the one pager from me on South Africa, it is repeated below Regards Jim Powell South Africa Politicians are the employees of the voters Our current system in South Africa is so much better than pre 1994 but it lacks accountability. The primary allegiance the proportional representatives have is to their own political party. The 50% of the local government councillors that have a constituency can at least be identified by the electorate but still are not accountable. We, the electorate, are the shareholders of the South African government and employers of our politicians. We choose the politicians who are employed and we must be able to directly control the politicians. An interesting statistic is that 97% the laws of the world’s best-known democracy, Switzerland, are passed without voter intervention. The threat of voter intervention means the laws are passed with the electorate in mind. A combination of: 1. Constituency (Wards at all three levels of Government) 2. Top-up proportional representation to ensure that the representation reflects the will of the people 3. Portfolio positions (Ministers etc) 4. Recall of politicians (firing of politicians by the voters before the end of their 5 year term) 5. And referendum with initiative mechanisms where the electorate can reject or propose legislation and change the constitution.
should work the best for the employers of politicians, the voters. The ANC would have won 80% of the seats on a constituent basis in 1994. The top up proportional vote would counter this. The ANC that obtained 69% proportional votes would then not receive any proportional seats, but would be able to appoint ministers as extra positions, as would the official opposition appoint shadow ministers. A political party that did not win any constituency seats but obtained 2% proportional votes would then be allocated 2% of the seats. *Charles Bukowski quotes* <http://thinkexist.com/quotes/charles_bukowski/> “The difference between a democracy (as normally practiced) and a dictatorship is that in a democracy you vote first and take orders later; in a dictatorship you don't have to waste your time voting.” Our current system can be called a 5 year dictatorship. An employment advert for a politician in South Africa under the current system (and generally throughout the world) should read as follows: Applicants are requested to submit their CV's for the position of politician: 1. The interview will last for a number of months. 2. Many thousands, or even millions, of the politicians’ potential employers (voters) will decide whether the politicians’ application will be successful 3. Should the politician be successful, the politician is guaranteed employment for 5 years unless the politician resigns, die, found guilty of a serious crime (we can talk about this one) or upset the group of people (political party) that the politician chooses to be employed with. 4. The politicians’ CV does not have to be accurate or truthful 5. The politician can ignore the employers (the voters) for the whole of the 5 years, and even go against the wishes or the politicians’ employers (voters). 6. The politicians’ employers are relying on the goodwill and integrity of the politicians, to act honestly and with dignity. But if the politicians choose not to, there is nothing that your employers, can do about it. 7. The politician’s employers understand that the basic rules of operation (SA Constitution) are in many ways much better than the vast majority of basic rules of many other countries and so much better than pre 1994. The basic rules were created by the politicians and in many ways for the benefit of the politicians and detriment of the employer (voter) and as a result the politician, the employee, will be in charge of the employers (voters). 8. Voters recognise that many politicians, from 1994, have done sterling jobs and others have done a terrible job but we, the voters (employers), will not able to remove the politicians from the voters employment or payroll if the voters are not happy with the politicians’ performance. 9. The voters (employers) will not be able to control the politicians (employees). 10. If the politicians are successful the politicians could change the basic rules (constitution) then the politician (employee), would then not govern us but would have to operate in the voters’ interest. This will be under the politicians’ control and we recognize from the past that you are not likely give the power to the voters (the politicians’ employers). 11. The voters, the politicians’ employers, would like the politicians to listen to the voters all the time and do as the voters instruct the politicians, not just play lip service for a month and then disappear for 5 years. It is the politicians’ choice whether you will do this. 12. The voters would like you to create a system to have an individual at every level of government that we can go to, so the voters would like to have constituencies at Central, Provincial and Local levels. Politicians, please put this in if you are elected 13. We will rename the position of "politician" to "5 year dictator" since this more accurately describes the position on offer. When the politicians give the power to the voters (employers), the voters will rename the position to “representative”. We accept that this is a long road to travel. There are many steps to take so that the community will believe that they are in control of their destination. Let us all take the journey together. Look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_democracy, http://democracybythepeople.googlepages.com/direct-participatory-democracy-links And http://www.world-wide-democracy.net/ Jim Powell (+27) 0118041335 0825712856 autoinfo(at)acenet.co.za From: Hamid Mohseni
[esi1mohseni2(at)hotmail.com] Hi Jim |