Quote:
Originally Posted by kermitology
Question is.. Is there another way?
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I don't know. While I appreciate the fact that I (technically) have a direct say in how I'm governed at all levels, I also realize that my vote is far less influential in the grand scheme of things than public opinion polls, lobbyists, and the personal whims of the politicians we elect. As such, I don't honestly believe that the practice of directly voting for all levels of government is necessarily a keeper.
Right now (with 3 levels of government) my personal level of influence at each level is as follows, both at a representative level and in total (assuming entire population could vote):
Federal: 1/103,000 (riding)....1/34,000,000 in parliament
Provincial: 1/38,000 (riding) .... 1/3,300,000 in legislature
Municipal: 1/68,000 (ward) .... 1/1,000,000 in city council
Now, I don't think I should have a larger voice in the overall scheme of things, but looking at those numbers leaves me wondering how I'm supposed to have any influence at all when my GREATEST impact by voting is a 1/38,000th share of a provincial electoral district??
I've occasionally wondered how a purely hierarchical government structure would work.... Suppose we still want 3 levels of government...call them local, regional, and national. What would happen if, instead of having them as totally separate entities, make them entities of one another?
Have a federal governing council of 30 representatives...1 from each region, selected by the regional council. The regional council is composed of 30 representatives, each selected by a local council. Finally, the local council members (30 again?) can be directly elected. Now we've got 27,000 local representatives, each representing about 1260 people.
With this arrangement, I at least feel like I can be heard by my representative. I know that my representative will be heard by his council, since we're limiting things to small groups of 30 (instead of 300!). Furthermore, I think that every member, from the local to the national, is more accountable to those he/she is representing.
It might work...or perhaps the lack of direct elections at the higher levels would somehow lead to even more cronyism and corruption. I don't know...and I don't know of any way to find out. It's just a thought I had that I wouldn't be totally opposed to studying.