Hi Thomas, At 13:04 24/03/02 -0800, you wrote: <<<< Would I invest in my citizen responsibilites if I had the time? Only if there was a pay-off. It could be dollars, it could be credits against tax or goods or services, it could be recognition, it could be the joy of being involved in a meaningful way in which I would recieve something of value to me. Am I willing to invest the time to find such an arrangement? No - it would be unproductive for me as an individual, though intellectually I agree it might be better for a civil society. >>>>
You've put your finger right on the nub of the problem of modern "democratic" society. The time and effort that any citizen would have to invest in understanding and coming to a decision on the huge variety of policy issues (never mind other looming problems) at any particular time (such as elections) is so immense that we cannot expect them to do so. This is why turn-outs in developed countries have been steadily declining for decades. And even those who bother to vote cannot be expected to agree to all the items in their party's manifesto -- but perhaps only to two or three of the main policies. And this is why policies have become slogans and elections have become part of showbiz. For the past few years on FW I've been trying to puzzle this one out. The conclusion I've come to is that something like "Policy Forums" will have to evolve -- that is, if we are to retain any semblance of democracy. In other words, instead of elections, there need to be specialised Policy Forums (on local, national, international issues) which the citizen can join voluntarily. This idea also involves much decentralisation of many issues (e.g. garbage collection, primary schools, law and order) in which "ordinary" people (that is, those who don't vote now) can take part in. In the explosion of pressure groups (usually middle class so far -- and usually on complex national issues) in the last few decades I think we can see the beginnings of such Policy Forums, but it's still far from clear whether this trend will turn out to be a viable historical development of democracy in which all can take part if they want to. Keith __________________________________________________________ “Writers used to write because they had something to say; now they write in order to discover if they have something to say.” John D. Barrow _________________________________________________ Keith Hudson, Bath, England; e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] _________________________________________________
