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Legislation

 

The amount of new laws passed in most countries has outrun the capacity of the politicians and parliaments (that are supposed to control them) to  discuss and monitor them intelligently. This applies even more to the vast amount of secondary legislation that is added by bureaucrats in order to implement these laws.

In the EU, for example, its unelected bureaucrats have churned out an astonishing 90,000 pages of directives, regulations and decisions during the past 50 years. Would this have been possible if the citizens would have had the opportunity to question and vote on all this legislation?

we do not propose that the passing of new laws and regulations should automatically involve the holding of a referendum. This would obviously be impractical. But the mere threat that the imposition of any measure that neglects to consider the interests of the electorate or important constituencies could lead to a referendum would act as a brake on ill-considered legislation.
 

But the citizen cannot be involved in the technical details of legislation!
This is one of the favourite arguments that the opponents of direct democracy have at their disposal. Even people who in principle like the idea of closer citizen involvement seem to be puzzled by the question how direct democracy could work in practice.
The solution to this 'conundrum' is quite simple. Most laws would still be proposed and agreed in the traditional fashion, that is by the elected representatives in Parliament, regional bodies or town halls. But all legislation of major importance would have to be subject to a mandatory referendum. All other legislation would still be subject to a facultative referendum that would have to be launched by the citizens that want to object. They would then have to find sufficient support before a referendum on the issue would have to be held. The number of supporters would have to be large enough to demonstrate that a referendum has real support but not too large so as to make it impossible to launch a referendum. A number between 5 and 10% or registered voters may be just about right.
The result of such a system would be that the government would avoid introducing legislation that has very little hope finding majority approval. This in turn would reduce the number of issues that would require the holding of a referenda.
 

Stop to 'proposals', 'initiatives' and 'schemes'
More and more legislation and bureaucratic regulation is created as a consequence of so-called 'proposals', 'initiatives' or 'schemes' launched by elected politicians or civil servants.
We think this is a symptom of what is wrong with the legislative process in our societies. People who have an in-built interest to increase their power or force their individual views on others are in the driving seat when their main focus should be on the smooth running of the government machinery. Their attention should be directed towards the efficient execution of existing legislation and only in extremis should they add new rules and regulations. These should not be created with the stroke of a pen and nodded through by subservient placeholders (aka Members of Parliament) but the process of launching new laws should start at grassroots and only be moved forward if enough citizens are willing to back it.

Every new initiative that is set up increases the distrust we feel for the State
Apart from the fact that most of these 'initiatives' are thinly disguised edicts based on only a shred of legitimacy we just want to point out the main cause of this malaise: the citizens are effectively excluded from the process of legislation and only a radical reform can reverse the growing distrust that is felt.
Direct action in the form of protests such as truck drivers blockading streets in order to support their demands will become a growing feature in our societies if this root-and-branch reform is not started soon.
 

Decisions you would be able to influence:

By giving the reader examples of recent policy decisions we highlight the dramatic impact the introduction of Direct Democracy would have on the political life of all countries.

All the following decisions where taken without the participation of the affected citizens. Some - if not most - were highly controversial and have a negative effect for at least some major parts of the country's population.

The present system of government not only leaves the citizens powerless in the face of a never-ending tide of legislation, it also inevitably leads to inefficient use of taxpayer's money and a steady erosion of civil liberties.

Full list of decisions the citizens could influence


■ GENERAL

Nuclear Powers impose further sanctions on Iran

Should former politicians be allowed to cash in from books and lecture tours?

Unequal regional distribution of tax burden

Forum demands that climate tax be redistributed on global basis



■ CLIMATE CHANGE AND POPULATION

Cap-and-Trade of Carbon Permits and ideal vehicle for fraud

Green Energy plan may cost 17 times more than its benefits



■ EUROPE

European Council members must put interest of the Union above those of their own countries (Lisbon Treaty, Article 9)

EU prepares expanded sanctions against Iran

MEP wants tax on carbon-intensive products

EU wants introduction of body scanners on Airports



■ UNITED KINGDOM

Minister states: British forces will be among the last to come home from Afghanistan

Wind farms will increasingly dominate most picturesque landscapes

7.6 billion car trip entries stored by police



■ DEUTSCHLAND

Solar Subventionen erreichen 85 Mrd. Euro

Neue Steuer auf USB Medien

Hartz IV Empfaenger zahlen nicht fuer Strom, Gas


■ OESTERREICH

Transparenzkonto: Parteifinanzen ausgenommen

Feinstaubkompetenz fuer Laender und Gemeinden

Mehrwertsteuergrenze manipuliert