Government
I've been vaguely working on a new system of government for many years now, one that combines the best (i.e. most effective ways to establish a government that thinks and plans and represents) features of democracy and monarchy. Describing it will be for another day. All I want to do now is summarise a voting system that I WISH could be adopted right now.
It is this: the ballot paper will include three questions in addition to all the candidates and stuff.
Question 1 is "Are you currently voting in a state or federal election?"
Question 2 is a multiple choice question, something like "What is the electoral system being used in this election? (First-past-the-post, Preferential, Hare-Clark, etc.)
Question 3 is a single-word-answer question randomly printed from a pool of several dozen or so, designed around either the general principles of our democratic system or the major policies of the candidates. These questions will need to be written and chosen carefully to all require around the same amount of attention to be paid by your average voter to what's going on.
You need to answer all three questions correctly as well as vote properly for your vote to count. All you need to do is pay attention to the process that chooses the people and organisations that steer your lives and you will succeed in influencing that process. Considering the incredible access to information (for minimal effort) that most of us have I believe this is not too big an ask.
What do you think?
It is this: the ballot paper will include three questions in addition to all the candidates and stuff.
Question 1 is "Are you currently voting in a state or federal election?"
Question 2 is a multiple choice question, something like "What is the electoral system being used in this election? (First-past-the-post, Preferential, Hare-Clark, etc.)
Question 3 is a single-word-answer question randomly printed from a pool of several dozen or so, designed around either the general principles of our democratic system or the major policies of the candidates. These questions will need to be written and chosen carefully to all require around the same amount of attention to be paid by your average voter to what's going on.
You need to answer all three questions correctly as well as vote properly for your vote to count. All you need to do is pay attention to the process that chooses the people and organisations that steer your lives and you will succeed in influencing that process. Considering the incredible access to information (for minimal effort) that most of us have I believe this is not too big an ask.
What do you think?