====================================================================== Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. ======================================================================
>>If it is possible to gather all the population of an electoral district into one place to debate issues and mandate their delegate, then on those issues they people might as well vote in a referendum and have their vote recorded This is exactly what an "imperative mandate" is. The people gather together, debate an issue, make a decision on that issue, "have their vote recorded" and mandate someone to carry out their decision faithfully and in a given time-frame. "imperative mandate" is the precise opposite of representative government. And , of course, it means, as the Athenians were well aware, that a certain amount of time (one day a week in Athens) be set aside for a general meeting of everybody. And it means that everybody can speak his or her mind, which can be annoying (Holy Grail is my favourite) As to using lots instead of actual elections, why not ? The Athenians did it. Might be an added safe-guard, although the imperative mandate system means that the person with a mandate has to carry out the mandate faithfully and account for what he/she did. The only problem with direct democracy, in my opinion, is not the method of selecting those who carry out the decisions, but rather within the decision-making process itself. While the assembly is debating what to do, some people might (or if you're a pessimist will) talk more, and be heard more, than others. This has been seen as the major problem of direct democracy from the Greeks onwards. It is a function of the size of the group assembled in one place. Limits on speaking time was one of the obvious solutions that the Athenians adopted (the klepsydra, you had until the leaking water jug was empty). But modern technology now enables debates to be "de-materialized", and thus spread out over a longer debating and decision-making period. Maybe writing your opinion is better than speaking it. Maybe electronic forums are better for debating, afford shyer people an opportunity to be more active and less passive ? Maybe the reverse is true ? Anyway, none of this changes the basic principle of imperative mandate and direct democracy. ________________________________________________ Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.econ.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
