Thursday 24 March 2011

An attack on democracy

There are some things that are more important than democracy but they shouldn't be confused with democracy and in particular with the move towards AV as these things are not mutually exclusive. I am quite keen, for example, that we don't have jet fighters firing on us. I am also not keen on dictators, especially the evil ones, and democracy is one safeguard in the fight against totalitarian states.

So the first defence of democracy is to ensure participation by citizens. In its simplest form this means going to put a cross on a piece of paper every few years. And that's the problem. If we can't get people to do this then we have a broken democracy. Add to that the present system in which votes rarely count and you start to see why change must take place.

If you know the story of Les Mis then you know that some people have been willing to build barricades and give up their lives for political change. It puts a simple referendum in perspective and if anyone tells you that democracy is expensive then the absence of democracy can cost so much more.

Change the world

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