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Submission MELROSE-1630 (Online)

Submission By Simon Melrose
AddressMusquodoboit Harbour, Nova Scotia,
Organization
Date20040921
CategoryDemocratic government
Abstract
My proposal is based upon the idea that we all owe our society for the rights and privileges we enjoy. No one should be exempt from having a duty to serve a single term for the state, say five years. Selection would be random. [2 pages]

Submission Content
I would like to submit the following which was intended for the Federal Government model but is still applicable to a provincial model.

The Citizens' Assembly is a wonderful idea and very much a step forward.  It does however, miss the real point, in that it is still seen as a method of tailoring our existing democracy, predicated on the idea that the best way to choose leaders is to elect them.

My proposal is based upon the concept of Civic Duty, the idea that we all owe our society for the rights and privileges we enjoy. No one should be exempt from having a duty to serve a single term for the state, say five years. Selection would be random, based upon a jury duty style process, with the proviso that one is between 18 and 70, not in jail or hospital and speak English or French, no exceptions.

We could start out with the Senate, replace 20 percent of them each year until we have a non-elected group with no political baggage, allegiance or vested interests. As part of the selection process, each person is assigned a region not their own, for which they will be responsible, they will have to learn about the region so as to be properly able to represent it.

Once this is functioning properly, we could then start on the rest of the elected bodies, as well as the large number of sinecures presently awarded by the politicians for services to themselves.

The final sting in the tail is that everyone would be permanently legally responsible for their own decisions while in office. Every decision must be properly considered.

So what is the downside? The first one is that people who do not feel any responsibility for our world would resent their term of service. The second is that people on a career path will do anything they can to wiggle out of their turn. Finally, all the hangers on, the party parasites, the mandarins, lawyers, accountants and other political leaches would be put out of business. Apart from these factors, there are no obvious downsides.

To wrap it up, given the number of people in the country, one may never be selected. Can this method be any worse at finding suitable candidates then the present one? I would suggest that the people who run for office are the very ones we do not want in charge, so lets give it a trial, add some sensible safeguards covering conflict of interest, wages, accommodation and actual methodology.  No more vote buying, political promises or elections, this is what I call a brave new world.

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