Democracy Cookbook: Direct democracy
Here is a link to Jon Parsons' article for the Democracy Cookbook:
" An oft-cited example of direct democracy is the ancient Greek democracy in Athens, in which citizens gathered on the Agora to debate and cast their votes on various issues. "
Ancient Athens was a single-party state, not a direct democracy. Suffrage was denied to 80-90% of the Athenian population.1 Athenians set up watchtowers around their slave quarters to keep their slaves under 24-hour surveillance.1 What would happen to slaves who wanted to overturn the system to abolish slavery? How was ancient Athens any different from a single-party police state?2
I disagree with the assertion that representative democracy is the form of government of the Canadian federation. 3 Canada is a constitutional monarchy.
To qualify as a representative democracy:
1) The system of government and constitution must be approved by direct democracy
2) The government must acknowledge direct democracy has having higher authority than representative democracy4
3) The government must acknowledge that global direct democracy has higher authority than regional direct democracy5
(When these stipulations are put in place, everybody who used democracy as an excuse to invade other countries suddenly despises democracy.)
Parsons is right when he says Newfoundland and Labrador needs clear legislation concerning direct democracy such as the need to establish a threshold for a petition to trigger a plebiscite. I agree with him that clearer legislation gives direct democracy "teeth" and forces the government to be more responsible to the people.3
I agree that liquid democracy (where "citizens not only get to directly participate in the vote on specific legislation, but also can actively promote issues and generate policy through the public meetings and online spaces") is an important aspect of democracy and community-building and should be pursued by government and the public.3
Lastly, I like the following quote:
"Government wants to be perceived as facilitating the will of the people, because doing so grants political legitimacy, but it does not want to create a binding decision-making mechanism so the will of the people can be expressed. Instead of granting legitimacy to government, the contradiction between the appearance and the actual practice of forms of direct democracy creates cynicism and distrust."3
1. "Israel, Athens, and Sparta." http://en.minguo.info/blogs/poramics/israel_athens_and_sparta.
2. "One-party state." Wikipedia, https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-party_state. Accessed 27 Oct. 2017.
3. Parsons, Jon. "Democracy Cookbook: Direct democracy." The Telegram, 24 Oct. 2017, http://www.thetelegram.com/opinion/democracy-cookbook-direct-democracy-157159/. Accessed 27 Oct. 2017.
4. "Democracy and Decision-Making." http://en.minguo.info/book/panoramics/democracy_and_decision_making.
5. "Democracy Cookbook." http://pan0ramics.blogspot.ca/2017/09/democracy-cookbook.html.
Democracy Cookbook: Direct democracy
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| Jon Parsons |
I agree with Parsons when he calls for government to start transitioning toward more direct democracy to allow greater citizen involvement. I disagree with using ancient Athens as an example of direct democracy.
" An oft-cited example of direct democracy is the ancient Greek democracy in Athens, in which citizens gathered on the Agora to debate and cast their votes on various issues. "
Ancient Athens was a single-party state, not a direct democracy. Suffrage was denied to 80-90% of the Athenian population.1 Athenians set up watchtowers around their slave quarters to keep their slaves under 24-hour surveillance.1 What would happen to slaves who wanted to overturn the system to abolish slavery? How was ancient Athens any different from a single-party police state?2
I disagree with the assertion that representative democracy is the form of government of the Canadian federation. 3 Canada is a constitutional monarchy.
To qualify as a representative democracy:
1) The system of government and constitution must be approved by direct democracy
2) The government must acknowledge direct democracy has having higher authority than representative democracy4
3) The government must acknowledge that global direct democracy has higher authority than regional direct democracy5
(When these stipulations are put in place, everybody who used democracy as an excuse to invade other countries suddenly despises democracy.)
Parsons is right when he says Newfoundland and Labrador needs clear legislation concerning direct democracy such as the need to establish a threshold for a petition to trigger a plebiscite. I agree with him that clearer legislation gives direct democracy "teeth" and forces the government to be more responsible to the people.3
I agree that liquid democracy (where "citizens not only get to directly participate in the vote on specific legislation, but also can actively promote issues and generate policy through the public meetings and online spaces") is an important aspect of democracy and community-building and should be pursued by government and the public.3
Lastly, I like the following quote:
"Government wants to be perceived as facilitating the will of the people, because doing so grants political legitimacy, but it does not want to create a binding decision-making mechanism so the will of the people can be expressed. Instead of granting legitimacy to government, the contradiction between the appearance and the actual practice of forms of direct democracy creates cynicism and distrust."3
1. "Israel, Athens, and Sparta." http://en.minguo.info/blogs/poramics/israel_athens_and_sparta.
2. "One-party state." Wikipedia, https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-party_state. Accessed 27 Oct. 2017.
3. Parsons, Jon. "Democracy Cookbook: Direct democracy." The Telegram, 24 Oct. 2017, http://www.thetelegram.com/opinion/democracy-cookbook-direct-democracy-157159/. Accessed 27 Oct. 2017.
4. "Democracy and Decision-Making." http://en.minguo.info/book/panoramics/democracy_and_decision_making.
5. "Democracy Cookbook." http://pan0ramics.blogspot.ca/2017/09/democracy-cookbook.html.
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