Hi Belly,

My wholehearted congratulations to you as a 'True Believer' for Labor's stunning victory yesterday, particularly in the seat of Longman, where incidentally I found myself yesterday, campaigning for the Greens candidate.

The rabid right wing gutter press up here, had been attacking Labor at every opportunity. Even to the extent of producing a phony poll claiming Shorten was dead meat.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-07-29/coalition-losses-prompt-company-tax-cuts-debate/10048736

I recall our debates about your man Shorten, back in the good old days before your departure. Well, I was wrong, he is a good bloke, and a fair dinkum Labor leader, please don't sell him short(en).

The Liberals and their Coalition cohorts, look more like stunned mullets rather than politicians, dead men walking!

Dear Foxy,

«In a democracy the citizen is supposed to be in charge, not the bureaucrat.»

Chuckle, chuckle... have you ever seen anything like it actually happening other than in propaganda school-books?

«How much (and what kind) of information (and education) should the citizen have if he or she is to have an effective vote in a democracy?»

If it is democracy that you want, then it should be up to each citizen to decide whether they have sufficient information and education: if they believe that they don't, then they can abstain from voting.

«Can we design a more democratic system than the one that we currently have?»

If you want to have a democracy, then what we have in Australia is a complete joke, a caricature of democracy.

In Australia, your only chance of being represented, is if:
1) Over a half of the people who live in some arbitrary area around you want to be represented by the same person as yourself.
2) That person wants to represent you.
3) That person is available to represent you, including by flying regularly to Canberra.
4) That person is not barred from representing you by reasons such as age or Section 44 of Australia's constitution.
5) That person is willing to swear allegiance to the commonwealth of Australia (rather than have allegiance to you, the voter).

What are the chances?!

In practice, some voters have a slight influence, but only over which among two, very similar parties, will come to power. Other voters who live on the other side of the street do not have even that because they happen to live within a "safe electorate".

Nothing short of proportional representation can begin to call itself "democracy" and even such a democracy would be lame.

For there to be a true democracy, people must be able to vote on the issues - directly if they wish, or otherwise through someone they appoint and can change at any time and even per issue. This was technically impossible for about 2000 years, but now, with current technology, it is possible again.

Thanks Paul, yesterday he won back my deep admiration, and he will be our next Prime Minister, Liberals will find another John Howard, but he like John,, who may still have been PM had it not been for work choices must not fall on the sword/policy that cutting penalty rates is other than class warfare

Dear Yuyutsu,

"Democracy" comes from a Greek word meaning "rule of
the people," in practice, no such system has ever
existed. Pure democracy would mean that every citizen
would have the right to participate in every decision, a
situation that would lead to complete chaos and would
leave little time for all kinds of other activities.

This ideal form of democracy has been approximated only
in very small communities, such as ancient Greek city
states. Even in these cases, however, the right of
participation was denied to certain people - specifically
both slaves and women in Greece.

In practice, the societies we consider democratic are those
that have institutionalised procedures for periodically
choosing among contenders for public office. They have
"Representative Democracy"; that is, the voters elect
representatives who are responsible for making political
decisions. In all democracies the right of the individual
to choose among alternatives is held in high regard, and
this right presupposes such basic civil liberties as freedom
of speech, et cetera.

Anyway, the topic of this discussion is - The Liberal
Party and Its Future - and what suggestions do you have
what can they do to improve their chances of winning the
next federal election? Do you think that the Liberal Party
should become more inclusive? That is - should they make
room for more women and involve the ethnic communities?

Should they form closer relations with ethnic leaders?
Small business people, together with their families -
should their concerns be better addressed? And so on.

Should the Liberal Party state their values and define
them and then apply them to issues that concern wider
groups?

I'm sure there is a wider audience that would be interested
in hearing your views.

The Super Saturday electoral results should lead to some serious critical reflection for the Liberal Party.
Foxy,
Yes, they have been letting us down ever since Abbott & I predict that if Shorten gets in he won't serve a full first term. The funding is simply not there to buy the votes he needs to stay in power.
Qld is in the process of proving that right now.

individual,

What can Turnbull and the Liberal Party do to get Queenslanders
on side?