Democracy - an extra quote for 24th January 2015
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
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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of the people, by positive vote if so demanded, and that none shall continue to have effect when that consent is withdrawn by the majority of the people;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.
You want democracy, there it is.
Kind of how the word "Football" can be completely and totally adjusted by adding the word "American" in front of it.
The reference to football is an excellent joke but expresses an opinion which I am afraid I do not share.
There is more than one way of doing things and it is not always the case that one must be wrong or inferior.
Some people like American football, some people like the kind played in Britain as football (also known as soccer) but there is nothing right or wrong about either taste, and to get into an argument about whether either is football or not is purely a matter of semantics.
Similarly there is more than one approach to democracy and provided there is a genuine attempt to make the results representative of a popular choice - e.g. I would not extend this argument to elections like the ones the former Soviet Union used to stage with only Communist candidates allowed to stand and not even a choice between them - IMHO saying "the kind of democracy I like is the only real democracy" is itself a deeply undemocratic argument.
Im not saying that one type is better than the other, I am saying I want democracy, which is as i understand it democracy.
i would not call the peoples democratic rebublic of korea very democratic, even though it has the word embedded in it.
thats kind of along the same lines as why Representative democracy is not democracy.
a prefix altering the meaning of a word does not justify the use of the word.
for example going back to my football analogy, if i sold a load of tickets to an american football match here in the uk, billed as a football match, then i would probably end up in a lot of trouble.
same, same if i sell football tickets to a "soccer" match in the USA then i would also be in trouble.
not that either sport is better or worse than the other, but one is what the people buying a ticket want to see, and the other is not.
I am one of the people buying a ticket in the running of this country and I want to see democracy as I understand the word, the best prefix i guess would be "Direct" but i dont think, in that sence, the word needs a prefix really.
Im not saying that one type is better than the other, I am saying I want democracy, which is as i understand it democracy.
i would not call the peoples democratic rebublic of korea very democratic, even though it has the word embedded in it.
thats kind of along the same lines as why Representative democracy is not democracy.
a prefix altering the meaning of a word does not justify the use of the word.
for example going back to my football analogy, if i sold a load of tickets to an american football match here in the uk, billed as a football match, then i would probably end up in a lot of trouble.
same, same if i sell football tickets to a "soccer" match in the USA then i would also be in trouble.
not that either sport is better or worse than the other, but one is what the people buying a ticket want to see, and the other is not.
I am one of the people buying a ticket in the running of this country and I want to see democracy as I understand the word, the best prefix i guess would be "Direct" but i dont think, in that sence, the word needs a prefix really.