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Narrow Election Results

When a major legislation such as Health Insurance Reform in the United States of America is decided by a narrow margin of 219 to 212 it illustrates that the process can hardly be called democratic.

This margin of 7 votes actually means that a change of heart by only four parliamentarians would have been sufficient to turn the result on its head. This means that a mere one per cent of those voting were enough to swing the result of the vote one or the other way.

All too often elections now lead to very narrow majorities in favour of the winning side. This is the natural outcome of the necessity to cater to the voters in the centre of the political spectrum who are needed to swing the pendulum one way or the other. Policies are fine-tuned to the point very differences between the two competing camps are small enough to attract enough voters to cross the line dividing the opposing camps but at the same time not upsetting the natural constituents of each party. The only major remaining difference are the personalities of the two opposing sides.

Often elections result are decided by a tiny margin - even 51 per cent of votes in many cases. In some election systems the winner does not even carry any majority as all but still is given untrammelled power for a considerable period of time. A tiny majority of citizens should not be allowed to rule over a bloc of citizens that is of nearly the same size. The introduction of direct democracy can protect the 'minority' from being ruled by a government that can hardly called representative. Putting all decisions to a referendum and only enacting measures that have a substantial majority behind them would help to develop a bipartisan political culture where issues are debated and they are decided upon on their merit rather than party politics. Holding votes on all major policy issues would place severe constraints on governments that are not backed by a majority of the popular vote.

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Why you should support
Dirdem:

► Are you angry when people want to control your life?

► Are you angry when people want to live off the fruit of your work?

► Are you angry when people want to tell you what to think?

►If your answer is YES to any or all of the above questions then you should support our Movement.

DIRDEM
is more than a traditional Political Party. We do not see this Cause as a career choice - or stepping stone leading to a lucrative career in the private sector.

DIRDEM
is not a Think Tank that publishes lengthy reports that are only read by a few insiders and later disappear in some library of filing cabinet.

DIRDEM
is not a Lobby or Special Interest Group that tries to gain advantage at the expense of other groups of society.

DIRDEM
is not a Religion or Ideology and does not try to make people believe in something except in the belief that no one should be allowed to rule our lives.
 

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.

See what decisions the citizens could influence directly in a proper democratic system