Chamber of Debate

DIRECT DEMOCRACY - elective oligarchy

Is our sentimental attachment to the party system the reason why intelligent and principled people of conviction no longer wish to enter politics, leaving the field open to the likes of Bush, Blair and Cameron, who have no principles and only want to be in power to gratify their over-stuffed egos?

Much harm has been done in our name in Iraq and Afghanistan, while the official opposition continues to proclaim that it would have done no different.

It was the fringe parties such as UKIP, the BNP and indeed the Muslims who declared from the outset that getting involved in Iraq would be a Bad Idea.

Did YOU support the war?

Do you suspect that the majority of the people never wanted the war in the first place? If there had been a referendum about going to war, what do you think would have been the result?

Would you like to "trust" another "leader" or do you think it is time we tried to work things out by ourselves?

Vote: Should a direct democracy replace the current system of British democracy, which is an elective oligarchy with policies indistinguishable from each other?

Our Unique Parallel Polling System

OMOV (One Member One Vote)

Yes 91%

No 9%

Yes

OMMV (One Member Multiple Votes)

Yes 100%

No 0%

Yes

AAA Awarded members only.

Members Comments


1in10	12-Mar-2010 21:35
The alternative question would be not to question the dictatorial political system itself which we have in this country, but to question the character of the people who became leader, and the process by which they become leader. It is weak leaders who give dictatorship a bad name. Maybe if this country had a strong leader maybe people's trust would be restored in democracy? Would you rather have Brown or Caesar?

avtar	6-Jul-2009 17:17
no-one who wants to be a politician can be trusted. it is time for direct democracy and here are 2 petitions that u can sign to register your displeasure with the current bunch of crooks: http://www.pledgebank.com/directdemocra1y http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/abolishMPs/

Pericles	25-Mar-2009 13:42
I voted yes to get rid of the oligarchy and I do support the war against terror, although I was against the Iraq invasion because I didn't think the pretext of WMD was correct.

ROBERTHBROWN	18-Jun-2008 0:30
I like the concept of the people having the right to vote on Policy and I agree it shouldn't be about party and personality. I'm in favour of direct democracy and I would like to see it given the opportunity to see if it could work far better than the current system we have in place.

timgbull	20-Dec-2007 12:3
The house of commons is mostly populated by career politicians, for whom self preservation and aggrandisement take precedence over the good of the country. This discredited version of democracy in the UK must be reformed.

jatrius	22-Nov-2007 13:15
When did it exist in ancient Greece. The noble Athenian assembly was only able to meet whilst slaves were still performing menial tasks to ensure the society had the leisure for its 'democracy'.

redandwhitestripes	18-Nov-2007 13:42
The ideal is appealing but in practice it simply would not work. Direct democracy really has not existed since ancient Greece. Our system is far from perfect but it is still one of the best in the world. I realised this when I moved to a country that has suffered twelve coups in one hundred years. We also have reasonably integral group of checking bodies such as the Election Commission that limit the power of the oligarchs. I personally would prefer a system of Proportional representation. It is far more viable than direct democracy.