freediver wrote on Feb 24
th, 2010 at 9:01pm:
Out of all the sitting delegates, I'm sure there would be at least one who declared their position for and one against on each issue.
Many issues are not so clear cut that they can be properly covered by simple for and against propositions: a whole range of options might be viable, and with delegates free of restriction imposed by party interference, each option is likely to find one delegate at least who will champion it.
freediver wrote on Feb 24
th, 2010 at 9:01pm:
Delegates who sprang it on their supporters at the last minute would soon find themselves low on supporters.
Too little, to late to prevent us being stuck with a bad decision, unfortunately. Remember the lady who changed her mind at the last minute to saddle us with a GST that the people clearly did not want? She ruined her political career and her party by so doing, but we are still left with the GST, and I would be surprised if the lady responsible was not paid off handsomely for her treachery, behind the scenes somehow.
freediver wrote on Feb 24
th, 2010 at 9:01pm:
Quote:I think you would need a very good reporting system available to the public, showing how each delegate promised to vote
We already do. I call it the media.
You still trust the media? I would prefer a better reporting system that need only be an Internet website, with a database in which all delegates policy positions and voting history was recorded. That way the most junior of delegates would get the same degree of coverage as the most famous, so you could expect to find them all. You would have all the history at your fingertips, instead of what the media chose to talk about currently. And a database of facts would not be continually trying to manipulate your thoughts and vote the way media commentators do.
freediver wrote on Feb 24
th, 2010 at 9:01pm:
The reason I like the scheme so much is that it does not force people to vote on issues they know nothing about. It is unreasonable to expect them to do so. It gives them the choice of delegating all of their decisions with a trusted representative, or making all of them personally, or any combination.
Well said!
freediver wrote on Feb 24
th, 2010 at 9:01pm:
Instead of having 3 or 4 parties in the house to choose from, their would be 50 or 100 different ideologies.
I am still very wary of allowing parties to have any involvement in the process, lest they spoil the system as they have with representative democracy. With the enormous funds they are able to command, they will through advertising (and perhaps more sinister methods) attract undue power to their candidates from the same sheeple in our community who are fooled by them now.