Giving Microsoft - or ANY company - access to your voting records?

You must be joking some famour tennis player once said!

Microsoft and the Pentagon Are Quietly Hijacking U.S. Elections

More Top Down Politics from Macron

Some people may applaud Macron's initiative - but it also highlights what is wrong with present-day politics all over Europe, and in the the EU as well: Tinkering with election rules and preventing free speech is contrary what Dirdem stands for: more say for the citizens, less influence by establishment politicians and parties - and the lobbies that support them. And one final question: who pays for these advertisements that are nothing but propaganda to support the status-quo? (5-March-2019)
Macron wants to create EU agency to stop meddling in elections

Rules restraining Free Speech and Democracy

Establishment politicians from Right to Left have spun a web of restrictions that make it very difficult for any other party or movement to wrest control of the political process from their hands. So-called 'Rules' governing how elections are run have one outcome: the Establishment always wins. In a system of Direct Democracy all individual political decisions would be subject to an extensive political debate - not an election campaign with lots of general promises that are broken in a split second after the elections are over. THAT IS THE ULTIMATE FRAUD that is constantly perpetrated on the electorate - no police prosecution there of course!
Another Kangaroo Court: Leave Campaign referred to police (UK)

Online Voting and Blockchain

Tracking your vote like an Amazon parcel? Does not sound so good to me.
Blockchain-based voting is like tracking your Amazon package

With parliament in the bag, France's Macron faces union test

The absurdity of electoral rules is demonstrated again - most of them are discriminatory, favor Establisment parties. So keep them by all means but add Direct Democracy as an additional layer of policy finding.
With parliament in the bag, France's Macron faces union test

Electoral Pacts - should they be allowed?

At a time when even tiny amounts of overspending in election campaigns seems to be a 'hanging crime' it is amazing that there are no rules that limit (ab)use of electoral pacts. If anything they are a device that can twarth the will of the people much more effectively.
SNP MPs ask Greens not to stand in Tory target seats and sign pro-Brexit fishing pledge

Turkish referendum: Fake Election

Who authorised last-minute changes to voting rules? It cannot have happened in a transparent and democratic fashion. What will be the response of Erdogan's fellow fake politicians in other pseudo democracies? Will there be any sanctions that really hurts and is not just symbolic? Sanctions seem to be in fashion these day, much beloved by the Politocracy!
Turkish referendum: opposition calls for results to be cancelled over allegations of voting fraud    

ELECTION SYSTEMS: Cutting the Gordian Knot

Another neat little discussion of different election systems. There is no best solution but a system of Direct Democracy gives voters to most comprehensive opportunity to express their preferences - on an issue-by-issue basis.
How we choose determines who we choose

Reflections on the Brexit Referendum

A narrow result in a referendum about the constitution should always require a meaningful quorum. In most countries election results are regularly decided by the thinnest of margins. But the UK referendum about Brexit leaves a somewhat sour taste as the majority of 52% has defeated a minority of 48%. So there is quite a split among the citizens, and a different result would just have meant that the roles are reversed.

There are several lesson from the whole exercise:

The development of the EU and its institutions proceeded with little regard to the wishes of the electorate. Regular consultations on major steps forward should have been submitted to a referendum in all the member states, with a significant quorum (2/3?) as safety valve.

It should not be at the pleasure of a Politician whether or not a referendum takes place. If we want to live in a proper democracy the consultation of the citizens should be governed by mandatory and predictable rules. Otherwise the often mentioned objection to Direct Democracy - that it can be abused by Governments and referenda become plebiscites - will always have to be taken seriously.

Reflections on the Brexit Referendum

A narrow result in a referendum about the constitution should always require a meaningful quorum. In most countries election results are regularly decided by the thinnest of margins. But the UK referendum about Brexit leaves a somewhat sour taste as the majority of 52% has defeated a minority of 48%. So there is quite a split among the citizens, and a different result would just have meant that the roles are reversed.

There are several lesson from the whole exercise:

The development of the EU and its institutions proceeded with little regard to the wishes of the electorate. Regular consultations on major steps forward should have been submitted to a referendum in all the member states, with a significant quorum (2/3?) as safety valve.

It should not be at the pleasure of a Politician whether or not a referendum takes place. If we want to live in a proper democracy the consultation of the citizens should be governed by mandatory and predictable rules. Otherwise the often mentioned objection to Direct Democracy - that it can be abused by Governments and referenda become plebiscites - will always have to be taken seriously.

Two-Party System on the Way out?

The Slow, Inevitable, Collapse of the Two-Party System (OrientalReview)

More important - it does not really matter how many parties compete for your vote, and under what electoral system.The most important change to align politics with the wishes of the Citizens is the introduction of Direct Democracy on all levels of Government.

Just these days the Burghers of Zurich, Switzerland, will launch a referendum against the imposition of higher parking charges in their town. One may agree or not, but they do not have to helplessly accept the diktat from above.

Parties own seats in Parliament

A particularly nasty and unpleasant aspect of party rule in several European 'democracies' is the fact that the party establishment can replace any MP that resigns (or dies) with another party member of its choice. The citizens of the constituency the previous MP represented have no say in this. This is in addition to the problem caused by the fact that any prospective candidate for election to the parliament has to be approved by the party bureaucracy as no country holds mandatory primaries and very few parties give the ultimate say on candidate selections to their rank-and-file members.

USA an Oligarchy - but so are many other Countries

An interesting study throws light on how small 'oligarchies' control the levers of power in the United States. Maybe the Oligarchies in other countries are not just the product of superior wealth, they may be based on ideologies, class loyalties or ingrained power structures ossified by badly designed constitutions and electoral systems. But most countries share this: the wish of the ordinary citizens is routinely neglected in favor of small constituencies that gain from favors dished out by those they help to control legislation.

Faulty Political System contributes to Inequality

Why are Inequality Levels skyrocketing? (The Big Picture)

American Democracy - Unfit for the Purpose?

This brief look at the state of US Democracy gives a sobering insight into the sorry condition that democracy has been turned into by the flawed electoral process in that country. A strong dose of Direct Democracy at all levels of government and decision making would go a long way towards neutralising the nefarious effect that money and influence-peddling has on legislation

Dirdem reduces inter-societal conflicts

Democracy as practised at the moment in most countries can easily lead to the dictatorship of a (often) tiny majority. In many cases it is actually a minority as the perverse effect of poorly-designed election systems can put governments in place that have only a small fraction of the electorate behind them.Lobbies can also have a disproportionate influence as parties fight for every last voting bloc - however small - just to make it over the 50pct finishing lines. So our proposal to introduce Direct Democracy will include measures to protect the majority as well as the minorities. By requiring that major policy decisions have the backing of at least two thirds of the electorate and are also backed by the majority of regions/provinces the voting process will result in an outcome that avoids benefiting small groups at the expense of the whole of society. For example, politicians will be less able to pander to the interests of the old/young or favour certain regions at the expense of other areas.

UK Councils vote down public question-and-answer sessions

The furious resistance that established politicians and entrenched bureaucracies will put up against the introduction of proper Democracy can be guessed from the decision of some English councils after they voted against introducing public questions at meetings. Tha even this very tame and timid effort to bring more accountability into local politics has been blocked shows how frightened local politicians are about the threat of having more light shone on their activities.

Unholy Alliance against Electoral Change

When the leader of the Taxpayer's alliance takes the lead role in the campaign against the introduction of the alternative vote in England one has to wonder when the public discourse in the country will ever be free from short-sighted considerations. The referendum may well cost money - but to object against this (tiny and insufficient) reform of a dysfunctional electoral and democratic system on the basis of what it would cost completely neglects to consider the negative fallout from a continuation of the present arrangements. At a time when the present government tries to win approval for the hollow slogan of a 'Big Society' it would certainly be the best to start giving the citizens a proper say in the running of the government at national, regional and local level. Only the introduction of a comprehensive form of Direct Democracy will move the county in the right direction. One also has to wonder why the No Campaign would not want to disclose the names of their donors? Maybe one would find the names of the same hedge fund oligarchs that pull the strings behind the Conservative Party?

How much would AV referendum in UK cost?

John Redwood ruminates in his blog about the costs of the planned referendum about the introduction of the AV voting system in England. But Dirdem argues that AV alone will not change much. Also irrelevant to ask how much the AV campaign may cost, it is pittance in comparison to total budget. One has to ask what are the costs of a dysfunctional democracy where voters are reduced to box tickers at the discretion of the sitting government or once every five years. The remoteness of government (and it is not much better in most ‘Western’ Democracies) due to this pseudo-democracy can only be ended by a system of Direct Democracy

Charter Cities - good idea but not so new

Paul Romer's concept of 'Charter Cities' that operate outside the dysfunctional tangle of a country's existing rules is an idea whose time has come and fits in very well with Dirdem's vision of Direct Democracy. But one must remember that the concept is not that new: the city states in Ancient Greece and the independent City-States in Italy and Germany during the Middle Ages were to all intents and purposes precursors of the Charter City that Romer postulates.