Australians’ faith in politics has collapsed – how can we reimagine democracy? “Late last year the Democracy 2025 project of the Museum of Australian Democracy and the University of Canberra released a major piece of research finding that trust in democracy in Australia has plummeted from 86% in 2007 to 41% in 2018. Through quantitative […]
ALP National Policy Platform March 2021
Disclaimer: these are unedited excerpts – and may be out of sequence. Strong borders and a strong humanitarian immigration program 62. To maintain Australians’ confidence and trust in the integrity of our migration system, Labor will fund and maintain robust border security measures that support the orderly processing of migration to our country and […]
Trump’s Second Impeachment
Resolved, That Donald John Trump, President of the United States, is impeached for high crimes and mis- demeanors and that the following articles of impeachment be exhibited to the United States Senate. Article of impeachment exhibited by the House of Representatives of the United States of America in the name of itself and of the […]
How Many American Idiots Are There? 73 Million.
This was no ordinary election. By now, you know that. But I mean it in a slightly different way. Not just that Trump’s still trying to steal it, and the GOP’s in cahoots. No, I mean that this election was something like a census of American Idiots. If you’ve been keeping up with the news, […]
The Glorious Experiment
The “Glorious Experiment” was just that, built around the environment of that late-eighteenth-century and its contemporary challenges of transport & communications over distances. Any federation of even a small number of sovereign states face the same challenges (e.g. India, Germany, Malaysia, Australia) but do not have that critical & fundamental flaw probably because they (a) […]
The Origin of Usonia
Recently the use of the term “Usonia” to refer to the population of the republic styled “The United States of America” has provoked outrage from some citizens of that country, especially those to the right of the political spectrum. This author uses the term respectfully and always with an initial capital as a proper noun, […]
Is a Unity Government of National Emergency possible?
Populism’s problems can be fixed by getting the public better-informed. And that’s actually possible.
Ron Levy, Australian National University Many commentators have been alarmed at the electoral wins of ultra conservative leaders around the world, as well as policy decisions such as Brexit made by a popular referendum. They see these as signs of a rising populism. In its benign forms, populism can simply mean ordinary citizens’ desire to […]
Electoral Reform in the U.S.A. – Step One
Here’s a simple first step on the long road to participatory democracy. Leave the individual states alone – they can clean up their own act, should they desire. Establish a (real) Federal Electoral Commission Define federal electoral districts by population independently, with a panel of electors to approve by 2/3rds majority Automatic enrolment of all […]
A Contract with the Electorate
This doesn’t require any structural change, just a procedural one. Contesting parties and independents each publish a policy prior to an election at any level. Each candidate enters into a legally-binding contract with their electorate to uphold the policy they subscribe to, whether party or individual. If it’s a party policy, then each party-endorsed candidate […]
