[governance] In Multistakeholderism, those who would be Lobbyists become Legislators, & nobody else has a vote

[Paul Lehto]

On Wed, Oct 24, 2012 at 10:36 AM, McTim <dogwallah at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Wed, Oct 24, 2012 at 9:54 AM, Paul Lehto <lehto.paul at gmail.com> wrote:
> > On Wed, Oct 24, 2012 at 1:03 AM, Dr. Alejandro Pisanty Baruch
> > <apisan at unam.mx> wrote:
> >>
> >> Paul,
> >>
> >> the theory in your posts is on track IMO.
> >>
> > Thanks, though it is  more than just theory, it is an explication of
> > fundamental human rights that clearly state (in somewhat different but
> > equivalent words) that legitimacy in governance is created only from
> > representative governance.
>
> Why do I need to rely on an intermediary when I can represent myself?
>
>
> In "local" matters, direct democracy should prevail and "town meetings"
can and do work quite well to decide matters, given both their local nature
and the relatively small number of people.  But where large numbers of
people are involved and/or great distances are involved, it is quite
impractical to have direct democracy with everyone representing themselves
on all issues (perhaps referenda which are few in number is a modest
exception).  In cases of large numbers of people affected or large
distances, representation has always been considered the way to go because
we don't have stadiums that will hold five or ten million people nor enough
time to allow each to represent or speak for themselves.

To answer McTim's question about why he needs to rely on an intermediary, I
will assume that matter in question affects a large number of people who
therefore have a right to vote on the matter and representatives are
involved, and answer as follows:

You don't get to BOTH vote *and* "represent yourself" in person without an
intermediary because (1) you, like everyone else, are not really superior
to the rest of the public in terms of who deserves to have their vote
recognized simply because you may prefer not to delegate your vote-power to
a representative, and (2) in many or most cases necessary deliberation and
votes take place all around the world that most can not afford to travel
to, in many cases, and (3) besides, if you really want to "represent
yourself" you can still travel and be a lobbyist on the representatives and
thereby speak for yourself without simultaneously taking those who can't
afford that or don't have the time for that largely or completely out of
the game because as a practical matter they can only participate via
representation.

But wherever practical, direct democracy without representation is the best
way to go.  Yet practicality involving geographic distances and numbers of
people often compels representative systems.

Paul Lehto, J.D.

> --
> Cheers,
>
> McTim
> "A name indicates what we seek. An address indicates where it is. A
> route indicates how we get there."  Jon Postel
>



-- 
Paul R Lehto, J.D.
P.O. Box 1
Ishpeming, MI  49849
lehto.paul at gmail.com
906-204-4965 (cell)
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