Time for democratic remodelling in the UK?

Broadly speaking there are two models for a democracy; direct democracy, where everybody gets to vote on everything and representative democracy, where we choose individuals to act on our behalf.

Direct democracy is undoubtedly too unwieldy to work in practice and, as we are often reminded, there would be too many issues on which the majority of us would be too inexpert to make a well informed judgment. So, representative democracy is our best, most functional, option.

The problem is that such a system does not necessarily guarantee that we get represented in the way that we would like. Powerful cliques are apt to form within the party system and small groups end up wresting control from the majority and take the country in directions that would never be chosen under the direct democratic model. This was exactly the problem with unions in the 70’s and, in my view, it is the problem with government now.

In Great Britain we have seen mass immigration in the last few years, in which possibly millions have come to live amongst us from abroad, transforming some of our towns into places where foreign languages now almost seem as common as English.

Predictably with such an influx, the NHS is being crushed by the added burden, as are schools, police forces, housing supply and now, according to the Monetary Policy Committee, certain groups of workers amongst the indigenous people.

All of this surprises nobody and yet our elected government sanctions it on our behalf. Do they allow it because they know something that the rest of us don’t? Is it because they have a great multi-cultural, multi-national vision that the majority would be unable to comprehend? Or is it utter incompetence; something that is happening because the government never predicted that it might? I really don’t know which of these three is the right answer, but I have to suspect that it is the last one. What I do know is that our elected representatives should come forward and explain to us, honestly, exactly how we have arrived at this situation and what exactly they plan next.

As a result of all that has happened and as a parent with teenage sons I look at our small island and see that there is clearly going to be vastly increased demand on our limited housing stock in future; a precious resource which this government, in particular (a so called labour government), has already allowed to become an investment tool. In addition to this, training places inside firms for young people will become even rarer than they already are due to the huge amount of low-cost skilled labour that is available to companies as a cheaper alternative.

These are not problems that will trouble the sons and daughters of government ministers. The Blairs left office with a £5m property portfolio, allegedly, and Tony is now earning a fortune on the lecture circuit. The Blairs, the Browns, the Mandelsons and Campbells and their respective children will all be OK, as will most of the tiny group that has presided over the almighty changes that have been delivered to us in the last few years. The rest of us will have to make the best of the new country that they have created.

The internet offers the possibility of an alternative democracy, perhaps a hybrid of the two models. If the power hungry little groups of people that come together to govern us cannot be relied upon to represent the people, then maybe it is time to change the constitution, the technology is alive and ready to make it happen,

Let the referenda commence.

P.S. If this kind of notion happens to float your boat, then there is an organisation that I have just heard about, which you might like to know about. It's called Unlock Democracy. Why not take a look, it sounds very interesting and credible: http://www.charter88.org.uk/