| A Modest Proposal |
| In reply to a letter cc'd to me by Steve Baron of
Voter's
Voice Kia ora Steve, > Dear Helen Clark > > I simply can’t believe that you, the Primeminister of New > Zealand, would have the audacity and the absolute > arrogance to tell Members of Parliament that they should > not be dictated to by their electorates on conscience > votes, namely the Civil Unions Bill as reported in this > mornings Herald... I’m not saying I am either > for or against this particular issue but it is not your > decision to make, issues like this must be decided by the > morals of the majority of New Zealanders. I totally disagree. The majority of the population do not have the right to decide whether or not I can have my relationship legally recognised. This is a decision for me and my partner to make. If affects no one else and no one else has any right to a say in it. > The real problem with our electoral system of so called > Representative Democracy is that you can and do get away > with your arrogance because there is no accountability, > there are no checks and balances once you are elected. We > do not have a Representative Democracy in New Zealand, we > have an Elected Dictatorship. Once elected Governments > regularly break their promises, do not always do what > they say they are going to do and disregard the wishes of > New Zealanders. I agree with the ideals of direct democracy. I would see them achieved by devoling political decision-making power to the smallest possible scale, with the smallest being the sovereign individual. I would do away with parliament altogether and replace it with an open assembly like the democratic Forum of ancient Athens (except not discriminating against women, slaves, foreigners etc), something that would be feasible because only a small number of major decisions would have to be considered and made at the national level. This would also satisfy the spirit of Te Tiriti of Waitangi, recognising in practice the right Maori were guaranteed in the Treaty to political independence. As for everyone else, each Maori person could make for themselves decisions that affect only themselves (what drugs to take providing their behaviour while intoxicated did not harm others, who to have sex with providing it was adult and consensual etc) without state interference. Each Maori person would participate in commuity forums which would have decision-making power over their neighbourhood. In predominantly Maori communities the decisions of these forums would reflect Maori cultural paradigms, satisying calls for Tino Rangatirantanga. Europeanized Maori who prefer to live and manage themselves as part of the pakeha population would be free to do so. In the few cases where it is necessary to make decisions at a broader scale, community forums would delegate representatives to city or district forums, provincial forums, national and potentially global forums. These could take place in person or using modern group telecommunications like chat, conference calls and in the future tele-immersion. All of this would increase the level of true democracy in our society and significantly decrease the economic cost of government. Combined with a system of Participatory Economics (political democracy combined with the economic dictatorship of corporate rule is an empty gesture) this could significantly improve the lives of average kiwis and increase their ability to have meaningful input into decision-making at every level of society. RnB, Strypey |
| Back
to... Strypey's House Party! |
| Created: 04/07/2004 Last Updated: 28/03/2005 |
Page
Design: Danyl Strype Contact me |