[Election-Methods] Partisan Politics

[Fred Gohlke]

Good Afternoon, Juho

re: "It is hard to say what is the original reason and what is a 
consequence. And it is hard to say what reasoning makes people 
understand the problem and solutions, and where one should make the 
first fixes."

Such an argument is more deflective than penetrating.  It does nothing 
to either identify a problem or solve one.


re: "In US all the elected political decision makers have a mandate that 
the citizens have given them. If those politicians are not good, we can 
put some part of the blame also on the citizens."

This is probably the crux of the difference in our views.  There can be 
no mandate when, as I said in an earlier message, "The only choices the 
people have are those foisted on them by those who control the political 
parties that have a stranglehold on our nation's political processes."


re: "If one wants to make an elephant move forward to some better place 
the best solution may not be to push and shout.  Opening the gates and 
putting few straws of hay in some strategic positions on the other hand 
may make a big difference."

That will work ... if and when someone takes the time and makes the 
effort to find the gate and clear the brush away.  Denying that a gate 
exists makes the problem insurmountable.


An aside:  I recently mentioned my friend in the U. K.  Well, he and I 
plan to work our way, humorously, through the way political change might 
occur in a small town.  It's interesting and fun to make up newspaper 
headlines and devise characters to present the various views ... and to 
visualize how real people would react in real circumstances.  We 
anticipate that visitors to his site will contribute by pointing our 
many errors and misjudgments.

He and I started out, some months ago, with divergent views.  He 
advocates Direct Democracy, and to the extent I understand what that is, 
I don't favor the idea.  As we talked, though, we found we had more 
points of agreement than disagreement.  In the end, we decided it would 
be worthwhile to organize our thoughts and present them in an 
entertaining manner.

One reason I mention this is that, back on March 5th, you wrote:

"I wonder if the groups of three (or more) always represent some 
specific region. I guess this was the intention. I.e. if the process 
starts at the backyard will it also continue to electing the 
representatives of neighbourhoods, towns etc. If so, that would probably 
make the ties between the representatives and their voters tighter. If 
the relationship is tight and will be about the same also in the next 
elections that would make the representatives one step more responsible 
towards their voters."

As my friend and I discussed our views, one of the things that came to 
the fore was a version of "... that would probably make the ties between 
the representatives and their voters tighter." I now think that idea is 
a major breakthrough.  I plan to modify the 'outline' by changing the 
label from Active Democracy to Dynamic Democracy and including a brief 
description of how "tighter ties between representatives and their 
voters" will occur.  When one ponders complex relationships for a long 
time and then finds a fresh perspective, it can be quite exciting.

Fred