[EM] Feeling left out in Sefton

[Fred Gohlke]

Good Morning, Michael

re: "In my case, all I wanted was the opportunity to express my
      agreement or disagreement with the final selection.  This is
      what has me feeling left out of the decision."

I see.  You don't want to participate in the process but you want to 
influence the outcome.  How egocentric.

This is not about our opinion of our own views, it is how our views are 
regarded by others.  If we lack the courage, fortitude and commitment to 
press our views as long as we can persuade others of their value, why 
should anyone care what we think?

The process selects the people who epitomize the attitudes and 
aspirations of the community.  It does so by slowly coalescing the 
judgments of those who best express the interests of their peers.

Individuals may not seek candidacy or election, but they have an 
obligation ... to themselves and to their community ... to seek 
attainment of the objectives they deem important.  If they are unwilling 
to do so, the community would be foolish to heed them.

Opting out is a trivial matter, it can be done at any level.  (For most 
of us, it won't be necessary.  Our peers will see to it we don't advance 
above the level of our value.)  If you choose not to participate, that 
is your option, but there is not, and should not be, any obligation for 
others to yield to the opinions of those unwilling to exert their best 
efforts to improve our government.


re: "There are 9000 electors in my ward, yet only 32 of them
      decided in favour of these new Councillors?"

Does this mean you disapprove of representative democracy?  If so, the 
difference in our views can't be bridged.

The 32 (actually 6 in the Sefton example) were carefully examined and 
selected by their peers.  They were chosen because they were deemed most 
representative of the people who selected them.  Is this not 
inordinately better than having a political elite tell us who our 
representative is going to be.


With regard to the balance of your message, it seems to be mostly an 
exercise in facetiousness.  I'm hard pressed to find anything worthy of 
a response.  There is, however, one misrepresentation that warrants 
clarification:

re: "... this new electoral method has stolen my vote for Council"

The petition specifically requests implementation of Practical Democracy 
as a method of selecting 'candidates'.  Even people like you, who do not 
participate in the selection process, shall have the opportunity to vote 
for the candidate of their choice.

If you have specific comments or questions, I will respond to them.  If 
you wish to editorialize, you can do so without my assistance.

Fred