--- On Sun, 22/3/09, Fred Gohlke <[email protected]> wrote: > Good Afternoon, Juho > > re: "Our political systems do have serious problems but on > the > other hand we are somewhat above > 'the laws of jungle'." > > We may be "... somewhat above 'the laws of the jungle'", > but that's no testament to our government of > ourselves. We will do better when adopt an electoral > process that encourages probity instead of suppressing it. > > > re: "I'd say that all large structures have the tendency > to > become oligarchic (that covers > e.g. companies, associations > and administrative structures in > addition to parties)." > > Thus, if we seek a democratic electoral system, one of our > first considerations must be to forestall this oligarchical > tendency.
Yes. Democracy itself was a quite revolutionary invention. Instead of the "natural" hierarchic system where the "best" climb to the top one gave main part of the power to the weakest. This simple trick that mixed the layers made the system also more dynamic and responsive, and in some respects also more robust and stable. (Btw, I think there are interesting prospects also in the other hierarchies.) > Since, as you note elsewhere in your post, > "... in all systems people will find the loopholes", we must > do our utmost to reduce that potential. We can do that > by ensuring that every citizen has a fresh and equal > opportunity to influence the choices made within the > political structure, in every election. > > When everyone participates in the Practical Democracy > process, the only way I've been able to imagine for an > oligarchic tendency to appear is if election cycles are > infrequent or terms of office are excessive.. Both > should be matters of great concern to those who implement > the process. Limiting terms of office to three years and > barring elected officials from re-election would reduce the > potential for an oligarchical supremacy to develop. Yes, the Practical Democracy adds some randomness in the process, cutting the usual paths that "the oligarchs" use to climb and stay at the top. Of course the process must always be in balance. We must also guarantee that the best expertise is available at the top (one way or another), there is some continuity in the system etc. Appropriate length of terms is one way to seek the balance.. > > > re: "... And there are new challenges like reaching the > limits of > the earth to support continuous > growth of the economy (and > our well-being), and the > exponential growth of human > population." > > These challenges are the result of human activity. > The advent of the cancerous 'growth' that threatens our > existence flows from a political system that puts the > interests of economic entities above the interests of the > humans among us. If we wish to reverse this course we > must begin by selecting the best of our people as our > political leaders. Yes, we need some changes in our political and economic thinking and in how we model and value different things. That is unfortunately not an easy and fast process. Just like democracy was maybe difficult to invent, promote, implement and adopt, all radical (in Latin radix = root, radicalis = having roots) changes are. In the end it is us who think that money and good position in the current hierarchical system are more important than other values, i.e. it is not those few at the top of the hierarchy but the whole pack that sets the targets and rewards and appreciates the current value system and model of behaviour. Well, in order not to be too pessimistic I note that I do believe that people are quite fast in adopting new habits when they are explained well enough so that they can see the benefits and that the proposed new model indeed works. The world of electoral reforms is an interesting one. People try to promote complex mechanical systems, to be used by all, to influence the roots of our political systems, to reduce the number and seriousness of political conflict situations, and quite often at the same time fight against the other reform proposals :-). PD seems to be a peaceful initiative. Thanks for that. Juho > > Fred Gohlke > ---- > Election-Methods mailing list - see http://electorama.com/em for list info > ---- Election-Methods mailing list - see http://electorama.com/em for list info
