Is my perspective pertinent?

[Fred Gohlke]

Good Afternoon

Can you tell me if anyone in your group would be interested in
discussing the material I've posted:

http://whither-democracy.blogspot.com/

Fred

[Quintessence]

Hi Fred,

Good to see your post here and to find out more about your blog on
Active Democracy. I like the sound of Active Democracy, it sounds
great and it could be quite close even similar to direct-choice.

At the same time, however, I should also mention that I'm not sure
what the general public will make of active democracy. I'm afraid
that, when talking about "active democracy", many will picture an over-
politicized society in which people are all too much engaged in
lobbying and are too closely-linked to political parties, giving each
and every action the political color of their respective convictions.

Nonetheless, I would like to think that active democracy is very close
to direct-choice, so please explain what active democracy is in your
view.

It may help if I point out three ways in which democracy can be
implemented:

1. General Elections: people get a one-time chance to jointly select
which politicians or parties are to make the decisions;

2. Referendum or plebiscite: people get a one-time chance to jointly
decide for all people on a specific issue;

3. Direct-choice: each person individually decides - as much as
possible - anywhere, anytime and on anything that affects that
person.

Note that the three above ways are not exclusive. To some extent they
can be combined, e.g. general elections can be prescribed in a
constitution that can itself only be changed by means of a
referendum.

How can we work towards more direct-choice? In the case of school, it
makes sense to split up one large school that dominates an area. Where
a family previously had no choice at all, the family suddenly does
have a choice from the moment there is more than one school to send
their children to.

Elsewhere, Bruce mentions cost wonders if people who want another
school are prepared to pay the price. I suggest that this is up to
them, but let me add that I'm convinced that multiple schools not only
better respect people's right of direct-choice (compared to a single
school), but that this also works out cheaper and increases the
quality of education.

Quintessence