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Do we really need to pay members of Parliament?
A simple experiment would show that there is hardly a shortage of candidates
even if no pay would be attached to the role of parliamentarian.
With internet every person could perform his legislative duties comfortably in
his home. Debates could be conducted in public notice boards on the web. Even
those parliamentarians following full-time careers could cope with the workload.
Like other citizens that spend countless hours watching television, playing golf
or just sitting in the pub/coffee shop people who want to be involved in
politics would dedicate their spare time to their duties in Parliament.
The countless rules and regulations that are churned out in all countries could
be limited to those that are fulfilling a real need thus reducing the
parliamentary workload to a manageable amount.
Parties milk taxpayers
It shows the poor state of democracy in many European countries that the parties
have granted themselves generous subsidies from the public purse. We were
reminded to comment on this abuse when reading (Die Presse, 11 March 2006)about
a dispute among Austrian
politicians about who should and should not be entitled to public funds.
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