From: "[EMAIL PROTECTED]"
And frankly democracy stinks anyway, few countries
have what could be called democracy, they generally have a republican
form of government with certain rules - we don't, which is one of
the reasons why we were shafted.
Steve.
Well Steve, that's a mouthful! I too am not terribly impressed with ~
democracy ~ as it is interpreted in most of the Western World. It is only
satisfactory in any degree if it comes with the checks and balances built
into a constitution which moderates mob rule and protects minorities. I am
a great fan of the US constitution and I believe the Founding Fathers did
an excellent job but even there not all of them believed in democracy (read
the Federalist Papers for evidence). Anyway, who can call their idea of
government democracy when it excluded well over 50% of the adult population
from the franchise (most women and all slaves)? What they all believed in
was the protection of individual rights under whatever form of government
they selected and the ability to enforce those rights. That is the core of
individual liberty.
Our fundamental problem is the lack of a constitution. I know that some
pedant will say that we have one, it is simply uncodified, but I would
respond to that by saying:
1. Any constitution that requires an expert to find it let alone read it,
is useless. If a moderately educated citizen is incapable of identifying
and reading his own constitution, it does not exist in any meaningful
manner.
2. Any constitution that can be overturned by a simple majority in the
legislature isn't worth the paper it's written on ~ or in our case not
written on.
Unfortunately it isn't in the interests of any major political force in
this Country to try and adopt a constitution and so, with any checks and
balances we have had being demolished day by day I only see a rather bleak
future for liberty in the UK.
Kenneth Pantling - Malcontent
Cybershooters website: http://www.cybershooters.org
List admin: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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