Some may be interested in the failed case of a 'citizen's constitutional
rewrite' that occured in Iceland five years ago. It was a more-or-less complete
failure (on electorial technicalities and with heavy right-wing
'Sjálfstæðisflokkurinn' party opposition -- the very same one whose PM was a
principle actor in the failure of the banking system -- and the same party that
enjoyed a recent post-crash resurgence despite their abominable record.)
A few pertinent links:
http://tinyurl.com/mtc2onq
http://tinyurl.com/zkz5vgn
http://tinyurl.com/hfnncbu
I know a few of the folks who were part of the elected constitutional assembly
in 2010 -- but haven't had a sustained conversation with any of them about what
went wrong in their opinion.
Some of the more radical points in the draft (as listed in the wikipedia
article):
-- ‘one person, one vote' (in the existing system, a candidate 'requires much
more votes to be elected as an MP in Reykjavik than in one of the more rural areas')
-- a referendum on abolishing the state church (polls indicated 73% would vote
in favour of separation of church and state);
-- a number of changes to government, including not automatically making the
biggest party's leader PM, introducing a ten-year limit for PM terms, and that a
vote of no confidence should have to include a proposed replacement PM.
-- obliging the state to provide internet access to all citizens;
-- introducing a three-term limit for the President;
-- allowing 15% of voters to put bills to parliament or call for a referendum on
proposed laws;
-- restricting government size to ten ministers, and barring ministers from
being MPs at the same time;
-- declaring Iceland's natural resources public property.
jh
--
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Dr. John Hopkins, BSc, MFA, PhD
grounded on a granite batholith
twitter: @neoscenes
http://tech-no-mad.net/blog/
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