Representative Democracy... what is it ?

There's only one person that Agamedes would trust as a politician and that's Agamedes.

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It would seem that Australia does not operate under a representative democracy. Not in the sense expected by media reports and letters, anyway.

"I voted for so-and-so yet they do not support my views!" is the cry of the masses.

Tough!

Representative democracy comprises a form of democracy wherein voters choose representatives to act in their interests, but NOT as their proxies - i.e., not necessarily as directed but with enough authority to exercise initiative in the face of changing circumstances, much like a power of attorney. That's from Kids.Net.au, a short and simple explanation.

Note that it is not necessarily as directed. Our politicians are our representatives, not our puppets.

It gets better. Or worse, depending on your viewpoint.

Politicians are our representatives -- on a wide range of matters. Do our elected representatives match our views on every single issue? Not likely! So how are our representatives selected?

Politicians get together and choose a range of issues and stated opinions. Each politician may begin with a general preference for each decision that may need to be made. The final platform for an election is selected to support the election of a candidate.

Does the platform -- the political hopeful's stated view on various issues -- match the view of each elector? Of course not! If the political view matched the elector view -- there would be no need for an advertising campaign: Just tell us your view, if we agree then we will vote for you...

Politicians are elected on a range of issues. Each elector votes for the politician with whom they mostly agree. Our representatives are then free to represent us but not necessarily as directed. We -- the electors -- provide, through our votes, to politicians -- our representatives -- enough authority to exercise initiative.

Remove the rose-tinted glasses

Australia operates under a system of representative democracy. We elect politicians who are then expected to represent us in parliament.

There are dozens -- hundreds -- of issues which must be resolved each year by our representatives. They do their best -- at least we still live in a democracy!

Remember that our politicians are our representatives not our puppets. If we are not satisfied with our representatives -- we can put ourselves up for election... and find out how hard it really is, to win the hearts, minds and votes of electors.

What we are really doing is, asking a bunch of politicians to do the heavy politicking. Sure, we only get to vote for the people who put themselves forward. Sure, we get to choose only from politicians and wannabe politicians. Tough.

As electors in a representative democracy, our only role in running the country is to vote.

Okay, we can also let our representatives know what we want on any particular issue.

Have you already informed your elected representative on your opinion on every single issue to be decided? No? Have you checked the opinion of every single person who is also being represented by "your" elected representative? No? Well... Stop complaining that you are not being "accurately" represented on the one issue that is the media's current flavour of the day.

Is there a True Democracy?

Again, from Kids.Net.au: A democracy is a form of government in which the people, either directly or indirectly, take part in governing. In Australian democracy we take part indirectly, by voting for our representatives.

A democratic government involves the people -- somehow. If you want government just for you, you want individualist anarchism. To me, that sounds much better. Still, Australia is a democracy, not an anarchy.

At its best, democracy is where 51% of the people can tell 100% of the people what to do. If you are outside that 51%, you agree to go along with the majority decision.

In order to get that 51% decision, 1% of the people can spend a lot of money on very convincing advertising... but that's another problem.

For today, just remember that we live in a "representative democracy". You are entitled to your own opinion but your actions are governed by majority decisions.

And your elected representatives are just that: representatives.

Stop whining. Start thinking. Make your views known. And if you don't like your representative -- start now, planning your own election campaign.

Independent thinking & independent analysis of your problems by Agamedes Consulting. Support for your thought: email nick leth at gmail dot com