Most of us understand the concept of a representative government since the idea is simple.
Actually doing the business of government takes a lot of work. Bills, legislation and laws require conceptualizing, writing, debating, revising, reviewing and passing. All of these activities are work and we elect representatives to do this work for us. Trying to accomplish this work at the public level, where every individual votes on every action, would simply be ineffective and relatively impossible because it does take attention to a lot of details. It is a real job.
We try to elect representatives who reflect our own values in the hopes that our country, province, state or community will reflect those values. At the broadest general level, the value ranges from what most would describe as Liberal to Conservative, but many special interests have ranges specific to that topic. (eg: Abortion, Environment, Taxation, Health Care, etc.)
Using a mythical nation with a population of 150 million and a voting population of 100 million over 18, let’s look at the Math.
100 million voters elect 200 representatives to handle the business of government. This equals one representative in each of the 200 constituencies which average approximately ~500,000 voters. Since elections are secret ballot, the voters are free to elect the candidate of their choice and therefore the body of representatives should be a reasonable match to the many and varied values of the population. If the population is split along the value range about equally into liberal and conservative positions, then the representatives should be likewise. To test this premise, let’s look at Canada and the USA as reasonable models:
The Canadian House has:
a….. A Liberal Party majority of 54.5%
b….. A Conservative Party minority of 28.6%
c….. Other Parties make up 16.9%
The Canadian Senate (appointed) has:
a….. An Independent group of 47.4%
b….. A Conservative Party group 32.6%
c….. Other affiliations of 20.0%
The US House has:
a….. A Republican Party majority of 54.4%
b….. A Democratic minority of 44.6%
The US Senate has:
a….. A Republican Party majority of 50.5%
b….. A Democratic Party minority of 47.5%
c….. An Independent affiliation of 2.02%
These countries demonstrate the relative equality of the value range and generally have toggled back and forth between Liberal-Conservative or Democratic-Republican majorities throughout history.
Legislation and laws developed by 200 individuals representing 100 million voters with a broad mix of values should result in some reasonable compromise whereby minority values and special interests get squeezed out by the process, but this does appear to be the part of the system that is a Myth.
The fact that this Representative Democracy is not developing legislation that reflects the reasonable compromise of 200 individuals with varied values is understood and well-documented by those who study Group Dynamics. This principle explains why the current system prevents us from getting the reasonable governance that we hope for and why we need to change the rules.
We think we have a group of 200 individuals representing us, but we really do not. All our representatives are prevented from voting their conscience on all issues and although we generally know this, we do not realize how this really puts all decisions in the hands of a very few powerful individuals. Additionally, most voters don’t realize how easy this would be to fix and they would fight against the solution because of a bias that has broad acceptance throughout the free world.
Let’s test this statement that, “most voters generally know this” with a simple example.
If a bill is proposed by the majority party on any significant issue it is almost always the case that every representative of that party votes to support the bill and every member of the opposition votes against it. These members really have very little chance to vote otherwise since doing so will result in immediate punishment by their party. The parties make no secret of this and are even so blatant and to title the member in charge of assuring conformance “The Whip.” So rather than having 200 representatives determining our legislation, we have a very small group of powerful individuals controlling our government.
What “easy” change could eliminate this concentration of power in the hands of the elite and powerful and restore our hopes for a truly Representative Democracy? One simple thing:
Require all voting in all governmental organizations to be by Secret Ballot
If you’d like your government to act reasonable and represent your interests, please look into the movement trying to improve things.
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The Association to Improve Government The possibility of improving the political system has little chance of success until politicians are given the same freedom and protection that we demand for ourselves. The freedom to vote our conscience and protection from threats/coercion for doing so. Adam Smith 2.0 AdamSmith2.0@bell.net
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Good essay. I have noticed that rightward conservative parties seem to have a more diverse approach to governing philosophy and try harder to do the right thing in spite of the pressure from the controllers. The leftward parties seem much more sheeplike and much less likely to go along with the confidential balloting idea. (By the way I think describing the process as confidential sounds less onerous than secret)
Perhaps the rightward folks would be more open to “confidential” voting.
Thanks for your comment on this paper.
The Association is neutral as far as political affiliation or philosophy.
I am unaware of any data that would support your feelings in this regard but appreciate the input that perhaps “secret” may be a less acceptable term.
Almost everyone understands the pros & cons of Secret Ballot at the public election level but somehow finds it unacceptable at the governance level even though the same problems will be and are evident.