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02972: Re: View Direct Democracy to be established somewhere in the coming New Year !

From: Fred Gohlke <fredgohlke(at)verizon.net>
Date: Wed, 02 Jan 2013 13:12:05 -0500
Subject: Re: View Direct Democracy to be established somewhere in the coming New Year !

Good Morning, Jim Powell

Is it possible the Swiss system works, in part, because of it's unique
geographical position?

One of the biggest obstacles blocking the achievement of democratic
government is the nature of public communication. While the technology
of communication has advanced over time, its effectiveness has receded.
This occurred because the dominant modes of communication are one-way
- from an author or announcer to an audience. The obvious problem with
one-way communication is that it propagates the biases and misdirections
of the source without the leavening influence of differing points of
view. This powerful force has an enormous impact on the formation of
public opinion and is the biggest single tool used by politicians to
persuade voters to support partisan causes.

Public opinion in Switzerland is influenced by French, German and
Italian media which are seldom in concert. This coupled with the Swiss
commitment to independence prevents the mass manipulation so prevalent
in other countries. Had there been a referendum, it is unlikely Swiss
voters would have supported the invasion of Iraq, but, in the United
States, where fear-mongering based on the threat of fictitious Weapons
of Mass Destruction flooded the media in a one-way flow, there was no
natural means for opposing voices to gain an audience.

I do not wish to imply Initiative and Referendum would not be a vast
improvement in achieving some level of control over the partisan
oligarchies that dominate the political scene. I simply want to point
out that relying on easily manipulated public sentiment as a basis for
democratic government is a flawed approach. we cannot achieve
democratic governments until we devise a mechanism that allows the
voters to participate in the formulation of public issues in a
meaningful way. Allowing political parties to select the candidates and
choose the issues is profoundly undemocratic, because ...

He who sets the options controls the outcome.

Our views differ on the matter of political parties. You "... see
political parties as essential to form an effective administrative
base". I think the administrative base is formed by the bureaucracy.
The problem we experience with our governments is the way our
administrative base is directed by our elected representatives.

I see political parties as divisive instruments that inspire
confrontation among voters instead of helping to find constructive
solutions to common problems. They aid egocentric power-seekers at the
expense of the people. Partisan politics lies at the heart of the
failure of so-called 'democracy', but devising a practical political
process that does not rely on partisanship is a non-trivial challenge.

Fred Gohlke


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