Dear friends

Having had experience of elected office (as a one-term Town Councillor) 
and of longer experience in both Labour Party and Co-operative Party 
politics in the UK, my present working conclusion is that the anarchist* 
(no-government) solution is not tenable, but, rather, that the next 
phase of representative democracy is to select 
riding/constituency/ward-accountable MPs, MPPs, Councillors (ie 
national, local and municipal fora) *by lot* from the electors list, for 
one-term (appropriately resourced) service.

(As is done at present for the jury selection process.)

Best and hugs

john

*************

*Not that I'm implying any-one's anarchist standpoint, or otherwise, on 
this list: it's simply that my anarchist friends tell me that the 
no-government (as now experienced at present) solution is the one 
favoured by them.  I think.

**************

Graeme Bacque wrote:

> Maybe the real solution is to abolish cumbersome, inaccessible, 
> omnipotent  centralized governments, and restore decision-making 
> rights to local communities, where the true effects of political 
> decisions are actually felt? It seems that regardless of the exact 
> balloting method used, politicians, once elected, still end up 
> suffering from an almost universal 'god syndrome' that makes them feel 
> they can do whatever they please, without fear of consequence, for 
> however long their mandate is.
>
> Constituents ordinarily have little access or influence between 
> elections on the people they appoint. It seems to me that 
> 'proportional representation' would only increase this abstraction 
> between governments and the societies of flesh-and-blood human beings 
> they are elected to (supposedly) represent. Neither 'proportional' 
> systems or those based on the 'first out of the gate' philosophy 
> appear to offer anything in terms of real accountability.
>
> Either way, what we invariably end up with is a bunch of overpaid, 
> self-infatuated bums who feel that being elected to office somehow 
> exempts them from facing the consequences of their actions. (The 
> prospect of not being re-elected is hardly my idea of a 'consequence'. 
> Most ex-politicians go on to find lucrative employment in the private 
> sector rather than going to prison for their actions, which would be 
> the outcome for any of their constituents who behaved similarly).
>
> Graeme
>
> Dennis Raphael wrote:
>
>>
>> The Toronto Star has strongly come out opposing proportional 
>> representation.
>>
>> http://www.thestar.com/opinion/article/184842
>>
>> This is my letter to them.
>>
>> Re: Bad Electoral medicine
>>
>> The best argument in favour of proportional representation is that it 
>> produces governments that are more responsive to citizen needs and 
>> more likely to stand up to business interests. One need to look no 
>> further than the Scandinavian and Continental European nations where 
>> proportional representation is well established, and income and 
>> social security for citizens is better than is the case in Canada, 
>> and poverty rates are low. Indeed, considering the Toronto Star's 
>> professed concerned with reducing poverty, why would it be opposed to 
>> the one innovation that could change poverty policy overnight?
>>
>>
>> 416-465-7455
>>
>> Dennis Raphael, Ph.D.
>> Professor and Undergraduate Programme Director
>> School of Health Policy & Management
>> Faculty of Health
>> York University
>> 4700 Keele St.
>> Toronto ON M3J 1P3
>>
>> The Star's email address is:
>>
>> "Letters to the Editor" <[log in to unmask]>
>>
>> dr
>> ------------------- Problems/Questions? Send it to Listserv owner: 
>> [log in to unmask]
>>
>> To unsubscribe, send the following message in the text section -- NOT 
>> the subject header -- to [log in to unmask]
>>
>> SIGNOFF SDOH
>>
>> DO NOT SEND IT BY HITTING THE REPLY BUTTON. THIS SENDS THE MESSAGE TO 
>> THE ENTIRE LISTSERV AND STILL DOES NOT REMOVE YOU.
>>
>> To subscribe to the SDOH list, send the following message to 
>> [log in to unmask] in the text section, NOT in the subject header.
>>
>> SUBSCRIBE SDOH yourfirstname yourlastname
>>
>> To post a message to all 1200+ subscribers, send it to [log in to unmask] 
>> Include in the Subject, its content, and location and date, if relevant.
>>
>> For a list of SDOH members, send a request to [log in to unmask]
>>
>> To receive messages only once a day, send the following message to 
>> [log in to unmask] SET SDOH DIGEST
>>
>> To view the SDOH archives, go to: 
>> https://listserv.yorku.ca/archives/sdoh.html
>>
>>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>No virus found in this incoming message.
>>Checked by AVG Free Edition.
>>Version: 7.5.441 / Virus Database: 268.18.1/691 - Release Date: 2/17/2007 5:06 PM
>>  
>>
> ------------------- Problems/Questions? Send it to Listserv owner: 
> [log in to unmask]
>
> To unsubscribe, send the following message in the text section -- NOT 
> the subject header -- to [log in to unmask]
>
> SIGNOFF SDOH
>
> DO NOT SEND IT BY HITTING THE REPLY BUTTON. THIS SENDS THE MESSAGE TO 
> THE ENTIRE LISTSERV AND STILL DOES NOT REMOVE YOU.
>
> To subscribe to the SDOH list, send the following message to 
> [log in to unmask] in the text section, NOT in the subject header.
>
> SUBSCRIBE SDOH yourfirstname yourlastname
>
> To post a message to all 1200+ subscribers, send it to [log in to unmask] 
> Include in the Subject, its content, and location and date, if relevant.
>
> For a list of SDOH members, send a request to [log in to unmask]
>
> To receive messages only once a day, send the following message to 
> [log in to unmask] SET SDOH DIGEST
>
> To view the SDOH archives, go to: 
> https://listserv.yorku.ca/archives/sdoh.html
>

-------------------
Problems/Questions? Send it to Listserv owner: [log in to unmask]


To unsubscribe, send the following message in the text section -- NOT the subject header --  to [log in to unmask]

SIGNOFF SDOH

DO NOT SEND IT BY HITTING THE REPLY BUTTON. THIS SENDS THE MESSAGE TO THE ENTIRE LISTSERV AND STILL DOES NOT REMOVE YOU.

To subscribe to the SDOH list, send the following message to [log in to unmask] in the text section, NOT in the subject header.

SUBSCRIBE SDOH yourfirstname yourlastname

To post a message to all 1200+ subscribers, send it to [log in to unmask]
Include in the Subject, its content, and location and date, if relevant.

For a list of SDOH members, send a request to [log in to unmask]

To receive messages only once a day, send the following message to [log in to unmask]
SET SDOH DIGEST

To view the SDOH archives, go to: https://listserv.yorku.ca/archives/sdoh.html