Democracy Done a Different Way

Politicians are not the backbone of democracy, but merely the riders of a system that is far from perfect.

Dr Gonzo...2023

The art of politics is in the promise to fix the issues, but only appear to have done so (at least, until after the next election).
The issues of the constituents, if deemed of sufficient importance to the greater community, shall be fixed to a standard where appearances mean more than actualities, and the promises made are deemed to be even less so.

Dr Gonzo...2023

I'm tired of dealing with politicians who promise so much when vying for election, but once they are elected, deliver so little.

In Australia, we have federal, state and local governments, as well as the Senate. That's a whole lot of fatcats and their staff to support. And if you knew what they earn both during, and after they are either thrown out of office by disgruntled voters or retire of their own free will, you would be shocked. They say, "We want to attract the very best." But from what I have seen, the very best is often not very good at all.

Elections, we are told, are the best way of finding the right people to do the job of administrating the affairs of government. But think about it...in Australia, if I feel that I can do a better job of running the country, my state or even my local government, there is little to no chance that will ever happen. Why? Because of the way the major political parties select their candidates. In the US, there will either be a Republican or a Democrat who leads your country. Here in Australia, there will either be a Labour or a Liberal party candidate who leads our country (Liberal means a very different thing in Australia than it does in the US...think conservative for Liberal and Labour represents the blue-collar or working class).

To become a candidate for either party, you must do the groundwork. Grovel and kiss, not babies (that comes later), but senior party bureaucratic bums. You must help with getting their candidates elected by volunteering your time towards this goal. And even if you do everything right, you will have next to zero chance of being 'preselected' by the party you choose to follow. Why? Because everyone who is a member of a political party also wants the same job, and the only successful candidates have plenty of cronies within the party... nepotism at its very worst.

The only other way to become an elected representative is to run as an independent, and although in recent times, independents have faired better than at any time in the past, mainly due to people's disillusionment, dissatisfaction, apathy and nihilism towards governments in general, this avenue is not a very successful one because it costs a lot of money to promote yourself and run as a candidate.

The system, in my opinion, is broken and we need to think of a better way.

My idea simplifies the entire electoral system. I propose that instead of electing politicians, we have a system where public servants (who at present do all of the work anyway) take over the decisions made by pollies. Once the system is up and running the most senior public servants could be judged on their achievements by the staff under them, or alternatively by asking for volunteers from the public to make these calls, which would be way cheaper than holding elections. Imagine a Christmas tree, where the many at the bottom vote for their peers above them, and gain promotions and better salaries along the way. And when they reach higher levels within the public service, could then make more and more important decisions...decisions that at present, are made by pollies. Set a maximum timeframe of service (perhaps ten years), with all those millions of dollars saved from the present democratic electoral system, going towards healthy retirement packages for those who get things done and on budget. This would keep new blood coming through the system and should help ward off corrupt activities and/or favours for the boys.

I am merely brainstorming here and no doubt this simplistic idea would need a lot of refinement, but anything would be better than the current system, which people are sick to death of supporting.