I have been following the so-called arguments against the UK leaving the EU. It strikes me that those arguments are based on fear-tactics and, unfortunately, will drown out those who have the courage to go it alone… However that is not what this blog is about.
I was aware that we Queenslanders will be required to vote in the Local Government Elections on the 19th of March. I was not, however, aware until a few days ago that we will also be required to vote in a referendum to change the present three year life of the Legislative Assembly in Queensland to a fixed four year term.
Last week I received a letter with the following documents (they are quite short!):
Click to access 2016-State-Referendum-yes-arguments.pdf
and
Click to access 2016-State-Referendum-no-arguments.pdf
How very civilised, I thought, to have the arguments presented so clearly and logically.
I shall, of course vote “NO”.
The ‘Yes” campaign dared to speak for Seniors, without consulting me, lost my vote immediately – but I didn’t like the rest of their arguments either! Whereas, the ‘No’ campaign that says the only people to benefit from an extended time in power are politicians who will have more job security won my vote – the quicker one can get rid of a bad government the better.
This is, in my opinion, the way that referenda should be conducted…
Watch this space for the outcome of Referendum 2016 Queensland.
Boadicea's Chariot 
Civilised, yes. JM reckons Mr Gove is the man to trust in the UK – so that’s something. I like BoJo, but maybe civilised and trustworthy are the wrong words.
The reason why the US elects its lower house of Congress every two years and a third of its upper house is to ensure that no government can grow too powerful. They haven’t been doing their job in recent years, though.
So it sounds it all doesn’t matter, you are just simply unfortunate if the times somehow at random turn out a bad government, but yes if you are aware that this is the case, a three year’s period is better than four years. Nevertheless in the case of the german Reich hardly anybody realised how nefarious Hitler was, until it was too late. If the soup for civil war or any other horrible time of dictatorship is brewing, then we cannot do anything, democracy or not; this is only an illusion.
Que sera sera?? I’m not convinced.
Janus, I believe that people are getting more and more enlightened through Internet and good education, but I still think, it is the paradox that the one’s who want Democracy shoot themselves in the foot. The uneducated, cannot care less people build the majority and therefore decide, not the people who care and act like ‘proper democrats’.
In the end, e.g. the Jews who reacted and left Germany on time survived and this rather sceptic behaviour could become important again ( I hope not), but staying alive and alert, this is all what we can do, I am afraid.
FoE: Hitler banned all other political parties and prohibited elections. There was absolutely no democratic brake in Nazi Germany. Mussolini and Franco were nearly as bad, the only real difference being that Italians and Spaniards are infinitely more difficult to control than the mindlessly obedient Germans. Those were not free societies by any stretch of the imagination, but there were at least pockets of society not utterly under the control of the government.
yes Christopher that’s clear, but nevertheless Germany was a free republic with an elected chancellor before Hitler came in power, but yes I agree not that modern form of democracy as we know it today. In saying that, I want to stipulate at the same time, that democracy is only a means to give more people a feeling that they can control the way a society is going and as well potentially prevent a dictatorship, but this is an illusion. The way to control things is to take on control not to prevent others to take on more control, these are two different things.
If democracy is an illusion, then the human race has savrificed too many lives for a cosy warm feeling!
Janus: Churchill was correct in his observation that democracy is the worst form of government save for all the others. The problem with a country like Germany is that its society is so authoritarian that there is really no way for it to actually “be” a democracy. There are pockets of the Bundesrepublik that are less controlled than others and some Huns with freer spirits than most but Germans will shut up and do what they’re told. It’s merely a question of how benign any dictatorship will be.
Janus, I did not say that democracy is an illusion, I only think it is an illusion, that a democracy per se can prevent a dictatorship. It is supposed to be (in accordance with what Churchill meant at that time) a better method to distribute wealth more equally and allowing fundamental human rights (like free speech) to develop and cherish. But corruption, manipulation, intolerance and hatred can only be eliminated by the people, because it is originated from the people and nests in amongst the people. The politicians are accountable for the democratic process and the society has its role to play inside and to adhere to the rules, which are permanently evolving and adapting with the (current) reality of a civilisation. The more offenders the more rules are needed. A political system, no matter if on a country or community or ‘union’ level will always have winners and losers, nobody and nothing is perfect and everything is relative (to the current point in time = personal reality of its members). Unfortunately it is the opposite of democracy if we introduce rules and criteria inside the democratic political process, which a voter has to first of all fulfil before he is granted a right to vote. If people complain about food banks, yes it is horrible no doubt, but I cannot see a direct link with the political system, it is rather a structural reform that is needed across Europe and with respect to that I see the proposal of the Labour party as a better choice. If we complain about the complexity and burocracy, in my mind better than living in fear of people like Mr.Trump, who could manipulate the masses to overthrow everything we have got.
FoE – I don’t know where on earth you got the idea that Churchill was the slightest bit interested in the distribution of wealth equally – I would imagine that a huge earthquake would occur as he turned in his grave at the very thought!
Democracy is the best of a bad job… the only better idea would be to allow people to vote on every law that is proposed before it is enacted – and that, given present population numbers, would be far too expensive and complicated.
As far as I’m concerned, the notion of electing representatives should mean just that. The representative for every constituency should only do what those who elected him want. This would, of course, do away with the party system. But then, I am a medievalist and know that in the early days of Parliament those people who were elected to Parliament were sent to wherever Parliament was held with strict instructions to deal with the concerns of those who elected them – and heaven help them if they didn’t – they didn’t get paid. It says a lot that people were prepared to pay to avoid being elected to Parliament. Unlike the present corrupt bunch who can’t wait to be be elected to get their noses in the trough…
I am fed up with MPs forgetting that that are supposed to represent the people who elect them and prancing around like petty monarchs, banging their chests and claiming that we have elected them to be our leaders and that they know what is best. Democracy? Bah! Humbug! Rubbish! It’s time to pull the whole lot down and put them back in their place…
… except, of course, there is no way to do that. Present governments have more power than any Western medieval monarch could dream of. The voters get a three/four/five year opportunity to choose between the best of a bad lot and then those who are elected go on their merry way doing what suits them and their mates and claiming that ‘they know best’ and that they have a ‘mandate’ for whatever they choose to do.
It is mandatory to vote in Australia – I’d like to start a movement whereby those who feel like I do could write on their voting slips “If I have to vote give me a Party I can vote for – this election is invalid”… and the election would be invalid. But, of course, my vote would be invalid and count for nothing. Those with power do not relinquish it without revolution…
.. and we in the West, have been taught not to go down that road… The People have no power to change the system – it is why so many of us are disaffected
.. and we in the West, have been taught not to go down that road… The People have no power to change the system – it is why so many of us are disaffected
Hence how we get to Trump!
People are sick and tired of the oligarchy within the Washington beltway, simple as that.
Sick and tired of illegal immigration not being dealt with.
Sick and tired of wages not going up since the 70’s whilst the rich get richer.
Sick and tired of mosques and ragheads trying to blow them up.
Sick and tired of the sclerosis in Washington.
Sick and tired of big money trying to buy elections, Jeb Bush just wasted $47 million of corporate America’s wealth!
Trump is the very antithesis of Washington, beholden to no-one, a total odd ball and the very personification of everything Washington doesn’t stand for. At least the primaries are amusing for once, not the usual boring drag. Would be even funnier to see him in the White House! Just wonderful to see the conniptions in the underpants of the Republican grandees.
Conniption – thank you, CO, for a new word. Not a frequent wvent at 73. 😎
CO – thank you too, for the conniption, germans are great at that. Nevertheless I agree somehow on principle with the first part of your reply, but Trump, I think this is what people want, who are looking for ‘a daddy to save them from the bad world around’ is not a good idea. It is easy to proclaim to be different, but profing it and making the place better???? Didn’t we try that for a long time? Do you really believe that Trump did not make his personal fortune on the weakness of the population?? You are right, the working man always pays the bill in the end, and this will always be the case.
Bo – I was a bit provocative with my argument, but in principle you say the same thing, democracy might be better than dictatorship or tyrany, but it does not mean that the people have a choice to overtrow it, that is equal to a civil war or revolution, I am with you totally on that.