Have a look at the experience and potential of Rev Dr Gordon Moyes at: http://www.gordonmoyes.com/ in NSW State Parliament

George Washington wanted to ban political parties because they weren't democratic. He lost the argument with his 'enlightened' peers. Real democracy lasted in the US only thirty years before Big Money took over running things through the parties. It's still there today. The joke is that they've become the main game in our pseudo-democracies in the West, including Australia's. It shows what an uneducated, unbright lot the mob is and how damned near impossible it is to make a decent democracy work. Shows how easily most people can be led by a wire through the snout.

I don't vote. That's how I maintain my self respect. One day we'll do it right. Maybe. Until then, let the kids play, I say. Yes, even if they kill themselves, because there's no stopping them with good sense arguments.

Don't forget Sock that any wisdom is bogged down by compulsory voting, compulsory preferencing of all candidates, back-room exchange of votes, and various other mechinations to twist and water down votes to go the way of the majors- even our (few) referendums have been wide open to rigging.

I'd imagine if our system alone were more like Switzerland we'd probably be doing better.

But some very interesting points.

Good reply, King. The Swiss is precisely the system I had
in mind in making a comment on ours. They have a far longer
record of political stability than we do. Well, they weren't
a military dictatorship for many decades in the 1700s and 1800s
as we were. And they have all the right conditions for being a
thinking race - snowbound for months of the year, bright races
on all frontiers, a tradition of calm introspection and so on.
Hitler said that the closer you get to the tropics the less the
brain functions. LOL. But hey, there might be truth in it.

We have the technology now to enable every citizen to vote on
every issue they consider of interest to them. A green or red
button on your TV enables us to have a say on how we're run.
It's even better than parish pump democracy Jefferson established.
But the very idea is anathema to an Australian party politician.

I've tested it in various areas, and I've concluded that the reason
we never get better served politically than we do is because there's
a closet fascist gene in all the descendants of the first settlers in
Australia. We of all countries in the world had a chance to do
something to set an example to the rest of the world and we blew it
big time. I mean big time.

I don't want to depress or alarm anybody, so I'll go looking for
some good news to report. Back soon, with a bit of luck.

Pete the Believer has it right with lawyers and their dreadful
influence on our law making. A Canadian ex-Dep PM lamented that
Canada's problem is that far too many of its politicians come out
of the same privileged class of cunning word, idea and law manipulators.
I think the boatful out to the edge of the continental shelf is
still the best remedy for that. I volunteer to cast the first
stone please, pretty please.

I part company with Pete though on the Hillsong thing. Holy smoke.
I was outraged to see the failed PM Peter Whatsisname front up
and do his thing there. Good grief. God doesn't work that way in
politics. If he were real he'd exect us to solve problems by our
wits and hearts, not delegate it to some charismatic ratbag. If I
sound a bit strident on this it's because if we're talking democracy
here, let's at least admit that the Godsquad get far more say and
influence than their numbers justify. 80% of us are in favour of laws
that allow euthanasia for those who wish to terminate their lives
with dignity.

The 21% Churchianity brigade muscled in and got their way with anti-
democraticians like Howard to overturn the NT law and set back
the hopes in the six states. Undemocratic parties listen to
minority squeaky wheels and we pretend we're democratic. Sorry.
The same goes for the republic and the same cunning little
manipulator of words, ideas and laws. 80% of us are now in favour
of a republic (76% under Adolph Howard) and waddawee get? I can
think of dozens like these disgraceful examples. Are we morons,
or what? Something's wrong if this is considered normal is a
chest-beating democracy, surely?

If we could junk the party system and and adopt a democratic system
of public consultation the party boys despise (because it diminishes
the power they got into politics to wield) we wouldn't legitimise or
institutionalise this de facto gerrymander that blights our
governance.

What would I suggest to replace parties? Something sensible
that can work - not soon but NOW. Follow Tamworth's lead and
elect a worthy independent with qualities we expect in our
political defenders. Tony Windsor showed he had what was needed
on all fronts - in the head, in the pants and so on.

When you vote for Tony you know pretty well what he's going to
do on your behalf. But so he knows what's going on in the myriad
minds in his electorate, he could benefit from reading his
voter blog/opinion register on all the matters to be dealt with
in parliament that week. His time and his staff's time is better
spent doing that than most things our present pollies do.

In time, we needn't expect more of our wo/man than to just explain
his brief in the debates and to vote with integrity. Politicians
would be relieved of all the intrigues and nonsense that wastes our
money and their lives. While we transfer across to that system, we
politely dispense with the old colonies (NSW, Victoria etc) and go
back to our county system set up at first settlement, after Mother
Englands's example. We have County Government, which sends one
rep to Canberra to vote on federal matters, to initiate new federal
bills and so on. The main guts of government is done at County level
- hospitals, schools, police and so on.

The only problem with all this, apart from cutting back on the terrible
waste of over-government, is that State of Origin would obviously
go for a Burtons, so we'd have to find an alternative to prevent
war between the northern counties and the rest of civilisation as
we know it here, if any.