Quote of the day 4th December 2013
"Democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.”
( Thomas Jefferson )
( Thomas Jefferson )
Nick Herbert on his visit to flood hit areas of Cumbria
Please note that the post below was published more than ten year ago on 21st November 2009 Nick Herbert MP, shadow cabinet member for the Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs, was in Cumbria this morning to see the areas affected by the flooding. He writes on Conservative Home about his visit. Here is an extract. I’ve been in Cumbria today to see the areas affected by the floods. I arrived early in Keswick where I met officials from the Environment Agency. Although the river levels had fallen considerably and homes were no longer flooded, the damage to homes had been done. And the water which had got into houses wasn’t just from the river – it was foul water which had risen from the drains. I talked to fire crews who were pumping flood water back into the river, and discovered that they were from Tyne & Wear and Lancashire. They had been called in at an hours’ notice and had been working on the scene ever since, staying at a local hotel. You cannot fail to be impressed by the
Comments
The whole idea of parliamentary sovereignty goes against the very idea of democracy.
"Representative democracy" is about as federal as the federal express or federal reserve is federal. people think its democratic because it has the word decmocracy in its name, of course it is not. representative democracy (especially when those elected dont even represent the veiw of their own electorate, rather the party whip) can never be democratic.
The eu also works on "representative democracy" which of course is elected or in the case of the EU even none elected dictatorship, and then they have the gall to brush away democracy as "populism"
So i ask how on earth can democracy fail in the UK, when we have never had it?
would you like a head start on introducing it, ok, a simple 6 demands would be a worthy way to start:
1. Recognition of our sovereignty: the peoples of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland comprise the ultimate authority of their nations and are the source of all political power. That fact shall be recognised by the Crown and the Governments of our nations, and our Parliaments and Assemblies
2. Real local democracy: the foundation of our democracy shall be the counties (or other local units as may be defined), which shall become constitutional bodies exercising under the control of their peoples all powers of legislation, taxation and administration not specifically granted by the people to the national government;
3. Separation of powers: the executive shall be separated from the legislature. To that effect, prime ministers shall be elected by popular vote; they shall appoint their own ministers, with the approval of parliament, to assist in the exercise of such powers as may be granted to them by the sovereign people of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland; no prime ministers or their ministers shall be members of parliament or any legislative assembly;
4. The people’s consent: no law, treaty or government decision shall take effect without the consent of the majority of the people, by positive vote if so demanded, and that none shall continue to have effect when that consent is withdrawn by the majority of the people;
5. No taxation or spending without consent: no tax, charge or levy shall be imposed, nor any public spending authorised, nor any sum borrowed by any national or local government except with the express approval the majority of the people, renewed annually on presentation of a budget which shall first have been approved by their respective legislatures;
6. A constitutional convention: Parliament, once members of the executive are excluded, must host a constitutional convention to draw up a definitive codified constitution for the peoples of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. It shall recognise their sovereign status and their inherent, inalienable rights and which shall be subject to their approval.
Yes.
Should we try to improve it?
Yes. Need time to think about whether the ideas you suggest might be worth looking at, some might but I am never, ever, ever going to agree that representative democracy is not democratic.
I had too much experience as a student of how direct democracy can produce results which in practice were not what the average person, if they were willing to spend as much time in meetings as the fanatics do, would have voted for.
Hence does the fact that democracy in the UK is not perfect mean we do not have democracy?
Absolutely not.
The answer is we cant, there is nothing the voter can do, but put up with stupid idea after stupid idea up until the next election.
spending is never authorised, if it was there would be a referendum after every budget to see if the public approves it or not.
as is the current system allows an out of control government to pass many laws that few people want, as they have a majority in paliament, a good example would be signing a treaty without a referendum. they can spend spend spend, leave the country in dire straits and leave the tax payer on the hook for the bill. The key thing is the taxpayer was never asked "shall we bail out the banks?" Then those responsible are not held to account.
Currently the people of copeland can think what ever they like on any issue, but the person who is supposed to represent them in parliament will simply vote the way the labour party tells him to.
As is the only thing that is remotely democratic is the fact every 5 years we get to elect the mp we want, except a lot of the time we dont vote for that reason, people tend to vote to keep the other people out.
There is nothing about representative democracy that is democratic.
OK, you are worried that democracy would lead to the proverbial "two wolves and a sheep voting whats for lunch" or "mob rule", but, look at Europe, and tell me which is both the most free and most prosperous country? - oh its Switzerland isn't it. Not bad for 2 wolves and a sheep huh?
You tend to find when you treat people like adults they act like adults and take some responsibility for their actions. Could you honestly of imagined the british people agreeing to an idea to sell off the nations gold at a rock bottom price, for Euro's?
- me nither, but the current system allows a government to do it then get off scot free.