In a People First System, the People will always be the first to speak | Principles | A Community Route

We have been told over and over again that we live and enjoy the freedom of being in a democracy.

The political system and the system of governance or administration that we have today could certainly operate in a very democratic way. But only when the incumbents within that system or the politicians and officers respect democracy and democratic practices themselves.

The truth is that whatever system of government or administration we may have, there will always be a dependence upon those who have been entrusted with the responsibilities of public representation having the integrity to respect and work diligently with that trust.

Today, politicians simply do not do this. Not least of all because once elected, politicians of the existing political parties are inevitably expected by their party to vote and support policies as they have been told. But also because very few politicians today are able to discern the difference between what is right for them and what is right for us all.

Many of us still think that change can be achieved just by voting for a different party, or by changing the way that votes are counted – so that smaller parties will get elected as they pick up alternative and second preference votes.

What those who believe this fail to see is that the way that we elect politicians doesn’t matter one bit, if they don’t care for or consider the people they have been elected to represent.

It would be foolish to believe that any of us can trust that every politician we elect can be relied upon 100% of the time to make decisions on our behalf that are always 100% right.

But there is a colossal difference between where we are today, and where we will be when we have created a very different framework that requires all public representatives to establish and qualify themselves at community level. Then live the principle that true democracy will always operate from the Grassroots Up.

Yes, we must have politicians and public representatives to represent us and make decisions on our behalf. But the perversity of a system where just a few thousand people from a group that has very specific interests and motivations can select the next Prime Minister of the UK, simply shouldn’t ever exist.

The people who represent us all must be selected and appointed by us all first.

It may neither be possible nor appropriate for us to appoint a Prime Minister in the same way that the United States does.

But we should all be able to take an active part in selecting the people who will represent us and take the majority of the decisions that will affect us all locally.

The people who represent us at Regional, National and potentially international level, should always be selected from those who have been successful and demonstrated their suitability as a public representative from this pool.