We touched on this once before. We discussed other examples of democracy and one that I mentioned, which includes referendums on almost everything, is Switzerland. You can't even build or add to a house without the community's approval. Although some individual freedom is sacrificed, it certainly works for them. City planning is amazingly well organized.
By the way, although the nomenclature changes, Switzerland has the equivalent of SEVEN presidents in what we might call it's executive branch.
Mike
Zeke Yewdall <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
An interesting case in point is the small town that I'm moving to.
Back in the 70's they set up their own participatory democracy (not a
representative democracy), and basically succeeded from county
control. They have their own building department, water board, etc.
Only 60 some people live there full time. However now, 30 years
later, the biggest problem they have is apathy. They can't even get
15% of the town to regularly show up for community meetings, which is
where they're supposed to decide stuff.
