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Post by papamihel on Sept 28, 2021 5:30:14 GMT
rmx.news/article/swiss-voters-approve-same-sex-marriage-in-referendum/What do you think of citizen referendums as a method of solving important social issues? Do you think it could work in your country? Would major political forces in your country support\oppose it? Personally I like it very much although I don't think it's entirely appropriate in this particular case.
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Post by yggdrasil on Sept 28, 2021 8:28:55 GMT
Way too expensive and governments on both sides would oppose it. The public would support the death penalty in most countries and you would have large scale gun control in the US are two quick examples. I can see the point for large scale political decisions such as Brexit, but even then they are not pure votes as the influence peddlers with money such as the press etc can get their side of the argument out much easier.
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Post by Flying Monkeys on Sept 28, 2021 9:31:28 GMT
Yes, I am very much in favour of referendums as it is a chance for people to be heard on individual issues rather than parties (which are a collection of issues, some of which you may like and some not).
I would see it something that happens once every five years (mid-term of a government) and has a number of questions that have accumulated over that period. It would become a regular part of the political calendar, known as Referendum Day, with a public holiday to go with it.
The key questions, though, are (1) which ones produce a result which must become law and which ones are advisory only and (2) who gets to decide the questions.
On (2), it can't simply be a parliamentary vote because the government will use it to bolster their power rather than doing the right thing for the people. Hence I would imagine a pre-referendum poll (petition?) of the people to rank questions in order of importance. The top 10 make it onto the card. Or maybe 5 from parliament and 5 from the people.
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Post by mowlick on Sept 28, 2021 10:26:20 GMT
I am all for referendums.
As far as I can see the main objection is that the 40 million odd voters in the UK might have different opinions from the 600 odd MPs at Westminster, to which the realistic response is that the former will have to live with the consequences of their actions and the latter can go fuck themselves
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Post by Hairynosedwombat on Sept 28, 2021 20:20:17 GMT
rmx.news/article/swiss-voters-approve-same-sex-marriage-in-referendum/What do you think of citizen referendums as a method of solving important social issues? Do you think it could work in your country? Would major political forces in your country support\oppose it? Personally I like it very much although I don't think it's entirely appropriate in this particular case. Australia had our same sex referendum a couple of years ago. The highlights were a gay muslim group actively campaigning, and the church of england spending millions opposing it. The church lost bigtime. |
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Post by Hairynosedwombat on Sept 28, 2021 20:26:54 GMT
Yes, I am very much in favour of referendums as it is a chance for people to be heard on individual issues rather than parties (which are a collection of issues, some of which you may like and some not). I would see it something that happens once every five years (mid-term of a government) and has a number of questions that have accumulated over that period. It would become a regular part of the political calendar, known as Referendum Day, with a public holiday to go with it. The key questions, though, are (1) which ones produce a result which must become law and which ones are advisory only and (2) who gets to decide the questions. On (2), it can't simply be a parliamentary vote because the government will use it to bolster their power rather than doing the right thing for the people. Hence I would imagine a pre-referendum poll (petition?) of the people to rank questions in order of importance. The top 10 make it onto the card. Or maybe 5 from parliament and 5 from the people. Australia has referendums occasionally, usually for constitutional change which have compulsory law attached, and plebiscites, which are advisory only. Referendums are easy to manipulate. We had one on ditching the queen which our monarchist prime ministed nobbled to get the result he wanted by clever framing the question despite polls suggesting a majority wanted a republic. |
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Post by Flying Monkeys on Sept 29, 2021 6:54:23 GMT
Yes, I am very much in favour of referendums as it is a chance for people to be heard on individual issues rather than parties (which are a collection of issues, some of which you may like and some not). I would see it something that happens once every five years (mid-term of a government) and has a number of questions that have accumulated over that period. It would become a regular part of the political calendar, known as Referendum Day, with a public holiday to go with it. The key questions, though, are (1) which ones produce a result which must become law and which ones are advisory only and (2) who gets to decide the questions. On (2), it can't simply be a parliamentary vote because the government will use it to bolster their power rather than doing the right thing for the people. Hence I would imagine a pre-referendum poll (petition?) of the people to rank questions in order of importance. The top 10 make it onto the card. Or maybe 5 from parliament and 5 from the people. Australia has referendums occasionally, usually for constitutional change which have compulsory law attached, and plebiscites, which are advisory only. Referendums are easy to manipulate. We had one on ditching the queen which our monarchist prime ministed nobbled to get the result he wanted by clever framing the question despite polls suggesting a majority wanted a republic. I'm not sure of the perfect solution but it definitely should not be the PM or govt deciding the questions. |
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Post by Hairynosedwombat on Sept 29, 2021 13:15:39 GMT
Australia has referendums occasionally, usually for constitutional change which have compulsory law attached, and plebiscites, which are advisory only. Referendums are easy to manipulate. We had one on ditching the queen which our monarchist prime ministed nobbled to get the result he wanted by clever framing the question despite polls suggesting a majority wanted a republic. I'm not sure of the perfect solution but it definitely should not be the PM or govt deciding the questions. I believe California has a system of people-power referendums. |
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Post by papamihel on Sept 30, 2021 3:47:38 GMT
I'm not sure of the perfect solution but it definitely should not be the PM or govt deciding the questions. I believe California has a system of people-power referendums. It does. I just looked it up - most referendum proposals don't qualify. The last was about plastic straws. |
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