Right there with you, daggett.

>>democracy has been almost completely broken for the last 30 years and unless fixed, we will all be powerless to stop the further alienation of which Kellie Tranter writes<<

Regrettably, the fabled "tipping point", where the momentum is such that the effect becomes permanent, may well already be some distance in the past.

Politics has become a career path, instead of a public service. At every level, we find the entrenchment of a process that is increasingly impenetrable to the ordinary civilian. Unless you have some form of influence - either money, or direct involvement (as a "player") - access to the levers of change, large or small, is impossible.

Even at the local level, it is easy to spot. "Speed calming" humps appear on the road immediately outside the homes of councillors. Planning permissions, so lengthy, fraught and expensive for the individual, are made for the privileged in a heartbeat. Developments that offend every published requirement, for "green space", or "public access", are magically approved.

At State level, it is proportionally worse. The trough is so full of snouts there can be no possibility of any transparency of process. Plans for road closures are made in secret, the government's collusion with privately built tollways only visible after the event. Infrastructure plans appear and disappear at the wave of an election, usually accompanied by massive expenditures on "consultancy reports" that go nowhere.

The article asks, somewhat naively, "Are citizens armed with information about decisions that might affect them and how they can have their say?"

Well of course they aren't. Nor are they likely to be. Why would any office-holder, or individual whose livelihood depended on the cloak of invisibility that surrounds their machinations, permit the balance of power to be shifted away from themselves?

Sadly, grass-roots revolution is the only possible agent for change.

And while we are all cosy and warm in front of our plasmas, enveloped in the pap and dross that passes for information and entertainment, a coordinated armed assault on Canberra by us disillusioned peasantry is, unfortunately, highly unlikely.

Good speak, Kelley.

I must know as I had a friend who spoke like you. And he made it all the way to the top Speak-shop.

So, the old man was unperturbed by the cost or was he old enough to know that solicitors are best left alone?

Pericles,

If you are capable of being so nice and complementary on this forum, why the necessity for your comments on other forums to so overwhelmingly consist of personal attacks ("JFK.E Howard Hunt Ex CIA, Accuses LBJ" at http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?discussion=3330#82211 and "Australia, Afghanistan and three unanswered questions" at http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?article=10034#162640)?

Anyway, I am glad that you seem to agree with me here, but had you really understood what I wrote and the longer article "Why Queenslanders must demand new and fair state elections" at http://candobetter.org/node/1718 that I quoted from?

Another factor which has obviously broken our democracies even further are the terrorist attacks (allegedly) by Islamist extremists of this century: 9/11, the Bali bombings, the Madrid bombings, the London Tube bombings, the shoe bomber, the underwear bomber and other attempts to blow up planes in mid-air.

These have helped create an environment of fear, where it has been easier for Governments to enact laws, which take away our democratic freedoms and, in general, impose unpopular policies on the people.

As a large number of very credible people (http://patriotsquestion911.com http://ae911truth.org etc.) dispute the Official accounts of these attacks and believe it more likely that they were orchestrated by elements within our own Governments, those views should be given serious consideration by anyone concerned about the state of our democracy.

That is what is being discussed on those abovementioned forums.

That may well be true, daggett.

>>That is what is being discussed on those abovementioned forums.<<

But that isn't the topic of this one.

The reason we agree on this topic here, is that we share an understanding that the process of government in Australia is broken. Similar, indeed, to many other highly-developed "democracies", where politics has become a business in its own right, with defined career paths and a "closed shop" ethos. There hasn't been a successful politician from outside these cabals in generations - Turnbull was the latest to try, John Hewson met the same fate - the environment is inimical to external influence.

Politicians are now "a breed apart". They have a sense of entitlement, as in "look, I'm dedicating my life to serving the public", that demands they be treated differently from us ordinary folk. Hence the massive Super that they pay themselves, the protection from taxation, the gold travel cards, the overseas jaunts that they take entirely for granted.

The article takes a rose-tinted view of "strengthening community democracy", which is all very feel-good and fuzzy, but ignores the very nature of the political beast that we are dealing with.

>>These [terrorist attacks] have helped create an environment of fear, where it has been easier for Governments to enact laws, which take away our democratic freedoms and, in general, impose unpopular policies on the people.

No question.

However, these are only symptoms of the problem that the article refers to.

It is the distance between the political process and the people that actually allows them to get away with making these decisions, regardless of the justification they present to the public.

Kellie
I agree that the people need to get control of the decision making at all levels of governmennt and there are a few obstactls preventing this from happening.

1 Apathy of most of the population.

2 We need to address the bribary (political donations) issue to ensure that elections are not always won by those who spend the most on the election. This will be difficult to change as corporate Australia would like to retain control of government.

3 Here in WA we still have "property votes" in local government elections. If you own property in 130 local government areas then you may vote at least 130 times.

The idea of a "Citizens Handbook" is great but it would need to be prepared by the community and not by the government.

Its just a curiosity, but Kellie Tranter's article 'How can community democracy be strengthened in your local area?' showed up yesterday, Monday 22 March, at the top of the OLO listing 'Today's most popular' on the On Line Opinion page where new articles are first posted. Here is a screenshot I took recording that event: http://twitpic.com/1a4ib6

The article was still showing up at number two on 'Today's most popular' as at 7:30 AM AEDST this morning. I am just curious as to how the traffic the article seems to have attracted has been generated. I have opened the topic 'Today's Most Popular - An anomaly? in the Technical Support category of the General Discussion area of the Forum in the hope of generating some interest in this phenomenon. That discussion can be reached here: http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?discussion=3534

Perhaps the author, or some of the users that posted comments to the article, may have what now seems to be a discussion that has died (at least on OLO) come up on their OLO email alert and have their curiosity aroused, too. Perhaps the author, or some other OLO user, has posted a link to the article (or to this soon-to-be-archived comments thread which itself contains a link to the article) in a blog or other forum from which the article-viewing traffic has come. It would be interesting to know.

The author's second-last paragraph,

"And finally, it [the strengthening of community democracy]
will require “structural” changes in our systems of government
to guarantee first, an “input route” for community opinion,
and second, a “processing system” that means that
community input will be given appropriate weight."

is interesting in juxtaposition with the reaction of the Swiss government to the recent largely symbolic minaret referendum outcome. It seemed to think the people had got it wrong.

Its government that generally seems to be out of touch. Could some unidentified factor be routinely skewing the views of those elevated to represent us?