This is about the situation in the UK, but it make you wonder what about Australia? ** Politicians are the tools of the bureaucrats. **

The people who 'REALLY run' Britain REVEALED
BRITAIN is not run by the politicians we elect but by a new elite, which has little loyalty towards and even less interest in the life of ordinary people, former Ukip MP Douglas Carswell claimed in his book.

In his 2017 book "Rebel: How to Overthrow the Emerging Oligarchy", Mr Carswell recalled the time he was invited by the directors “of a very august British institution” to a grand gathering in one of London’s “most magnificent landmark buildings”.

He explained how the guest list included the people who “really run” Britain, such as a "former civil-servant-turned-minister", a man with a “knighthood who chaired one of the largest (publicly funded) arts organisations in the country” and various TV presenters and household names.

In particular, Mr Carswell examined the CV of Catherine Ashton.

He wrote: "Catherine - or Baroness Ashton of Upholland GCMG, PC - once worked for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament before moving on to the Central Council for Education and Training in Social Work, a statutory body for social workers.

"From there, she went on to chair Hertfordshire Health Authority.

"In 1999, she was made a Labour peer, before being appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Education. Then Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of Constitutional Affairs. Then Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Ministry of Justice.

“In 2007, she was appointed a Cabinet minister and Leader of the House of Lords. Then an EU commissioner responsible for EU trade negotiations.

Then an EU commissioner responsible for EU trade negotiations.

"She was eventually made the EU’s first High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy: the Foreign Minister for some 500 million people.

"But here’s the thing.

"Catherine was never once elected to any of these offices.

** rest of story is important will put it in soon **

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1078229/brexit-news-uk-mps-douglas-carswell-theresa-may-vote-spt

As Arthur Daly once said;

"you call this loose assembly of incompetent individuals a Government ?"

Con't from above,

"Catherine was never once elected to any of these offices. Despite having a major say on public policy throughout her career, from healthcare in Hertfordshire to the EU’s global role, she has not been voted to office by the actual public."

Mr Carswell added that as government has grown, more areas of public policy are run by "an alphabet soup of government agencies - the FSA (Food Standards Agency), the FCA (The Financial Conduct Authority), the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to name but a few".

He concluded: “As an MP, I am only able to lobby, bully or cajole this hodgepodge of officialdom to give people the treatment they want. No wonder people lose faith in democracy if elections are fought about outcomes that no one elected can deliver.”

** This person has so much power and as the author stated "was never once elected to any of these offices." **

Whoever we vote for these days, liberal democracy is becoming increasingly hollow.

Power has been seized by unelected, tax-funded bureaucrats, while parliament has become just a rubber stamp. Politicians also just go along with supranational (also unelected) directives from the likes of the United Nations. Because of real or imagined ‘complexities’, they pass laws that enable bureaucrats to make the real decisions that affect citizens.

Single-issue activists who reject the familiar political order, have managed to ‘march through the institutions’ and ruin popular trust in democracy, as authorities and courts yield to pressure.

Dear Philip S,

Certainly agree with the sentiment but not sure you are up to the whole box and dice regarding representative democracy.

So all of the 700 members of the House of Lords of which she is a part are appointed rather than elected.

While not usual those on both sides of the political divide in the House of Lords have served as Ministers even Cabinet ones and had significant roles at the EU.

Nigel Farage never personally won an election as an MP, nor is he a member of the House of Lords, yet he sat in the EU parliament.

So the answer of course is to do away with life peerages, turn the House of Lords into a proper Senate and only have elected members serve at the EU, although this will not be an issue soon.

Also Trump's cabinet includes many who have never faced and election.

Only someone with the luv of his own country like Trump can drain the swamp.