Coke vs Pepsi (The Laberals)

Following last weeks effort by the Australian Greens slapping their brand on a departed former Labor Coke prime minister it seemed sensible to slap the logos of the two party system or as I like to couch it Coke versus Pepsi or the Laberals.

 

The more we change the more we stay the same at least that is what I observe when examining political outcomes for Australia. It can be argued that we as Australians deserve what we get as after all MPs are democratically elected representatives. Although the question can be raised what is the meaning of representation and how this effects captured elected governments.

Representative

Certainly elected representatives win seats based on the premise of democracy achieving a greater count of votes than their competitors (give or take some preferences). The description of an elected representative becomes more questionable when we see successive governments introduce policies that many voters would not agree with. Does this now mean that individual you voted for still represent you or your interests? Even statistically the representation may not hold true. The policies can be purely ideological or captured by lobby groups. So what’s the alternative solution? I hear you ask.

Direct Democracy

This is not a new ideal and something continuously opined by a fellow poster Stephen Morris over at MacroBusiness. It is also not unpracticed being the mechanism used in Switzerland. Direct democracy provides citizens with a strong participation in the legislation process in the form of veto-rights to laws. It is not uncommon for the Swiss to have referendums for more than a dozen law changes a year.  Referendums for constitutional changes are mandatory and are often called upon for budgets. If you think about it this could be easily implemented efficiently using the internet the ABS utilised this method with eCensus to great success with a 33.04 % take up rate in 2011.

So the next time you think about who you would vote for State or Federal think about the alternatives, the Coke and Pepsi parties are incumbents of captured elected governments. Look for an alternative and if a candidate is advocating direct democracy you may just want to listen.