A Pledge to transform our democracy

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A Pledge to transform our democracy

25.02.2010 // by Pam Giddy

Over at the Left Foot Forward blog, POWER2010 director Pam Giddy writes:

When Power2010 first declared its intention to draw-up and campaign on a five-point plan to reform British democracy based on a process of popular debate and participation, more than a few people said we must have lost our marbles.

The prevailaing view, encouraged by the media, is that ordinary folk cannot be trusted to make sensible political choices, that they will always back the most reactionary or populist ideas and that is why powerful leaders are needed to make decisions on our behalf.

On democratic or constitutional reform issues in particular, the view of political elites is that people are either unable to make choices or they actually don't care enough to even think about them.

Well, we never listened to that nonsense.

We went for a bottom-up process, empowering people across the country to have their say on how our country should be run through a three-stage process that involved: asking for people's ideas, distilling them down to a shortlist through deliberative polling, and then holding a mass public vote.

The five ideas that came out on top are an interesting and radical mix which, if implemented, would truly transform our democracy.

Read the post in full at Left Foot Forward.