On May 4, 2008, at 19:10 , Fred Gohlke wrote:
Good Morning, Juho
re: "... I'm more inclined to see the parties still as units that
still get their strength and mandate to rule from the citizens
themselves (and from their lack of interest to make the parties
better and control them better)."
Although I (obviously) don't share your view, I will agree that the
parties get their strength from the subset of the electorate that
supports them. My dissent is based on (1) the fact that the so-
called 'mandate' comes from a tiny subset of the electorate, (2)
the 'mandate' results in destruction of the separation of powers
intended to protect us from improper concentrations of political
influence, and (3) it is maintained by the absolute suppression of
alternatives. Instead of democracy, a tiny minority of the people
provide the "strength and mandate to rule" that dictates the
choices available to the rest of us.
I guess different countries are in quite different position here. The
change / improvements may come different ways, in regular elections,
by mass movements, even by revolutions in the worst case.
re: "Strong emphasis on the regional representation and close
contacts between the representatives and voters may to some extent
also reduce the need to offer full political proportionality."
We should consider the possibility that focusing on 'regional
representation' and 'proportionality' are misleading. An electoral
method that empowers each and every member of the electorate to the
extent of their desire and ability is regional and proportional, by
definition.
Methods that involve people at root level (like your "groups of
three" based method) typically are regionally oriented. They need not
necessarily be geographically regional here but can also be based on
other proximity criteria / groupings like political, religious, work,
ethnic or hobby/interest/philosophical groups.
I already commented earlier that the "groups of three" based method
that you have studied does not implement proportionality in the
traditional way. Large parties (or whatever opinion camps) tend to
get more representatives to the higher layers (more than their
proportional size is).
Juho
Fred
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