- it is done best by enthusiastic amateurs, not professionals. so how do we get a hand on the levers of government?

suppose labor loses the election by 1%. suppose 2% of the electorate have not ticked any politicians names, just wrote on the ballot:

"democracy - or the libs"

there would be two results: 3 more years of the liberal party rule, and the labor party would put citizen initiated referendum back on their platform. they took it off in '68, thereby selling out the people of australia, particularly the workers who suffer when the libs get in.

we wouldn't have 'workchoices' now, if the people of australia had cir. the labor party are not the champions of the poor, they're just a mob of cynical parasites like all the other pollies. do you really want to reward them for their treachery to the ideal of democracy?

if you can grit your teeth and endure 3 more years of lib rule, you get a reward of a lifetime of real citizenship. and labor is not much better anyway, so give it some thought.

And here was I thinking that it was because no matter who does it they we all get screwed......

Well, if an enthusiastic amateur gets their hands on the "lever of government" be careful they don't suck the country dry!

y, there are amusing ways to twist any discission with 'sex' in it, bugsy.

but states with cir are more efficient and better run than oligarchies- notably switzerland, where a very small nation has a currency so stable it's an international benchmark.

They also have a lot of guns, hardly any crime, do not participate in wars, have a civil militia with compulsory military service, is a confederation and is considered to have a high degree of integration of immigrants and on and on. In fact the comparisons about Swiss culture and most other countries reveal quite a difference in political and cultural institutions.

The fact that CIR works in their country does not mean it will work in all countries.

But I like their cheese.

very true, bugsy- we'd have to grow into it. but i think it's important that we get started. pollies have shown no inclination to do anything about the problems they have created. some of those problems are leading to racial suicide.

For cir to work you need an intelligent, well informed, well educated citizenry, which we ain't got, as a fair percentage of voters in Australia vote with their hip pocket, if monetary concern is the the overiding feature then cir will fail, example California through cir voted not to increase tax and the education system was deprived of funds.