Democracy in action...

Well, It's that time of the election cycle again.  I have just finished filling out my U.S. absentee ballot, and I just wanted to show my British friends how much of a dearth of local accountability there is in the Democratic Socialist Republic of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.  

Here is a breakdown of the roles and laws I voted for, in a state with 9.5 Million people (less than the population of Greater London) and a county with a population of c. 800,000 (less than that of Birmingham):

1   US President 
1   US Senator
2   State Public Service Commissioners
1   US Representative
1   State Senator
1   State Representative
1   District Attorney
1   Probate Court Judge
1   Superior Court Clerk
1   Sheriff
1   Tax Commissioner
1   Chief Magistrate
1   County Commission Chairman
1   County Commissioner
1   County Board of Education
2   State Supreme Court Justices
3   State Court of Appeals Judges
5   County Superior Court Judges
4   County State Court Judges
2   County Soil and Water Conservation Supervisor
3   State Constitutional Amendments
1   County Sales Tax to fund development

36  Total Positions and Laws

What did I vote on at the last British General Election?

1   Member of Parliament
1   Member of European Parliament
1   County Councillor
1   Town Councillor

And one wonders why the British electorate are, mostly, apathetic.

Comments

[Ross]

I'm not sure I agree with electing judges, but the rest of those roles should be filled by elected representitives rather than appointed quangocrats.

[James G]

Hi Ross,
I'm ambivalent about electing judges, but, it appears, in practice, in my state, they only ever compete when a chair has been vacated or when the incumbent has made decisions on the bench that go consistently against the public will. For example, someone who gives murderers a year or two as opposed to the chair.

I think a judiciary completely void of democratic oversight, such as the one we enjoy here in the UK, is not a good thing.

Even before Parliament was strong, the King always had to ensure that his judges were just in the eyes of the people, from whom the English king derives his power.

[alison]

Do you think all people filling in these forms consider this deeply when electing these people on your list? Leaving all positions to a vote like that isn't necessarily a better thing.

In the end you get two parties!

I don't know where you get this idea about a dearth from but if you really want full selections from left to right and to see how that impacts on mainstreams head to France.

I honestly have never understood why and how Americans feel their system is vastly superior. Especially after the similar fiascos it has unleashed on both our countries the last few years.

To be honest the quality of life in France is superior to America and under socialists! That's all I need to know to measure success!

[James G.]

Well, I can only account for those things that have directly affected me here in my life in Britain (and a brief spell in Germany).

The centralising tendency with no local accountability has given me the road in front of my house being dug up and regraded in the middle of the night for two solid weeks.

It has given my family crap treatment in NHS hospitals.

As far as positions for local elections go, those positions mean a lot to the people who are affected by them whether the dumb masses (as you imply) care or not is beside the point. They have the choice.

Our choice here in Britain is precipitated upon swing voters in a few key marginal constituencies somewhere between the Midlands and just north of London (and a bunch of whinging Scots north of the border). These voters decide everything for me here on the South Coast down to the level of how often my rubbish is collected and in what capacity to which local roads are improved (or not as the case has been here since about 1997.)

So yes, there is a dearth of democracy here in the UK.

[Steve]

But at least we can organise an election without holes in it.

Hanging chads, crap voting machines, unclear voter registration, incomplete and out-of-date records, lawsuits, counter lawsuits, hour long queues.

What a bloody fiasco! No woner you get such low turnouts.

[James G.]

Yeah, agree with you on that stuff, but then, when a ballot only has 4 items on it, then there's not much that can go wrong.

(And we get a low turnout here in Blighty with none of those holes...)

[James G.]

Thought I'd look up the stats: 2004 US Presidential elections: 55% turnout for people of voting age.

2005 UK General Election: 61% of registered voters turned out to vote.