Isn't it time we admit our system of government is an enormous failure, and perhaps look at alternatives? Should we split our country into Cantons, like the Swiss?
"The concepts of devolution of power, local autonomy, and participatory democracy have produced the world's most peaceful and prosperous country. Of course, Switzerland, with its compulsory military service, state controlled monetary system, railroad and telephone services, and taxation, is not a pure libertarian society – but for those interested in reining in out-of-control governments in other parts of the world, there are large parts of the Swiss cantonal system that are worthy of emulation. "
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We have an out-of-control and particularly useless government. We need a whole new system. Our country is broken, and tinkering around isn't going to fix it. We need to go radical. Arguments for? Against?
It will come as no surprise that I am a fan of Switzerland, but introducing a federal cantonal system here would possibly make things worse from a government expenditure point of view. Unless the powers of government are restricted I believe that the result here would be radical increase in taxation and government interference at all levels. The other option is the participatory democracy, which seems to work very well in restraining government actions by public mandate. As you say though, anything is better than our current system where politicians do as they like.
I was reading about the free state project in the US a few weeks ago. New Hampshire seems to be the most libertarian state, where legislators get paid $100 and their powers are restricted. Fear of course would be whether such a low "income" would make the legislators more susceptible to corruption, but NH is one of the lowest ranking states in public corruption. Some interesting information:
http://freestateproject.org/101Reasons
But 'we' are the problem and the systems of politics and public administration are those that 'we' demand.
I listened to an item on Pat Kenny last week about Martin Mansergh and Mattie McGrath doing constituency walkabouts in Clonmel. The opinions expressed by the locals, with regard to what they expected of their TD, were almost alien to me, yet their vote is as valid as mine. We the people have too many vested interestes in the system as it is and a radical change is simply not possible.
You make a good point. I think the big problem is that no matter what your political leanings are that you have to make lots of compromises when it comes to voting. The amount of things politicians can influence is scandalous, and it is impossible for a voter to know in detail what their favoured candidate's opinion is on everything they can influence.
It's like going to a supermarket for bread, milk, jam and a bottle of wine. When you get there you are given the choice of several shopping trollies packed to the rim. You spot bread and jam in one, milk in another, and one of them seems to have all except milk, but a huge amount of other stuff that you cannot quite identify. If you explicitly restrict the powers of government then voters can make much clearer decisions and actually get what they want.
In absence of such restrictions, what I like about the Swiss system most is that new legislation, that is deemed significant, is put to the people for a referendum. This not only keeps politicians on track, but is also a system that respects the true meaning of democracy, i.e. people's power or people's rule.
I heard a TD on the radio recently (I think it was NewsTalk), in response to a comment that big government decisions should be put to the people, say that that would be a Swiss style system and that no decisions would ever be made. The interviewer was quick off the mark to say that Switzerland is in a whole lot better situation than Ireland and that the system has worked pretty well for the Swiss for a long time.
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