Political Hotspot
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Welcome to the thirty-eighth edition of Political Hotspot
Garth Lidlington M.D. has won the UK presidential election, in a second consecutive victory for a WRP candidate, following Aaron Mark Daniels successful run in December. Alongside these successes at the polls the WRP is also successfully rebuilding it's member base, positioning itself to break into the top five again in the not so distant future. If the BDP hadn't also (predictably!) managed to increase it's membership as well, the WRP might in fact have made it into the top five again by now.
The presidential election has also heralded the rise of two new parties into the top ten, Rory Winterbourne II's Total Democracy, and the National Democrats of Joseph McKenzie and MajorGeneral Erich von Klinke.
Rory Winterbourne II campaigned on an interesting, though perhaps not entirely workable, proposal to introduce direct democracy in the UK under the Constitutional Dictatorship. This could be a way of increasing the participation of the masses in the political process, which would be positive, but could also be a license for crooks to use multis to exert unfair influence over the legislative process, which would be negative. The negatives could, therefore, outweigh the positives. It would be advisable for a policy of this kind to be implemented on a gradual basis, in order that it's effects could be analysed before the country is too deeply committed to it. A slightly greater role for the Constitutional Dictator would be needed, including the right to block attempts to change the constitutional position of Constitutional Dictator. Any such change should also be accompanied by the formal recognition of the Constitutional Dictatorship as a Constitutional Monarchy, thereby abolishing the right to call a referendum on who holds the position.
God Save King Woldy!
Comments
Anarchy in the UK
I disagree that direct democracy would be more open to abuse than the current system by multis. Currently the vote for congress is anonymous, having a system where you could see who's voting would make it less open to abuse surely?
It is certainly true that it would be easier to tell who was abusing the system, but you would need to be careful to ensure that laws were put in place to act against abuses, since knowing about them doesn't automatically stop them.
The key issue is that with total direct democracy, a vote that sought to change the constitution could be forced into the system by someone who intended to abuse it, perhaps to increase their own power.
This risk means that a direct democratic system would need to be carefully legislated for to ensure there were proper safeguards built in, also bearing in mind that the regular participation of the general public cannot be guaranteed. This is why I advised that were it to be implemented, it should be on a gradual basis, and that a slightly greater role for the Constitutional Dictator would be needed.
uwot?
Every vote has its own spreadsheet, it gets released to congress after the vote ends. Everyone knows how everyone else voted.
Example
AMD's Budget Results
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1R6FMWgBrDQmiIBJfOy7vcoxXesj3CCRDhbZk0M9dWKQ/edit?usp=sharing
What I meant was "the vote to elect congress is anonymous". Maybe should have worded that better.
The vote to elect congress may be anonymous - but you do have to be approved by the leader of a top 5 party to get there - not saying that all leaders are trustworthy of course... But some of them are.
Would it also not open the system up to people intimidating others to vote a certain way?
Good point - it certainly could.
Coolio