Every time I have made the following comment I have been solidly slapped down by people on both sides of the political devide, with epithets applied ranging from naive to stupid. However, since so many are now making comments on two party politics similar to my own, expressed over a period of several years, here goes one final attempt.

What I see as the only workable democratic political system based on faithfully representing the PEOPLE of the USA, and of the UK is the following.

1. Each constituency to elect a representative from a list of candidates who have a proven track record of public service to the LOCAL population. Reasonable campaign funds from the public purse, the same amount for each candidate.

2. The representative elect to swear an oath of allegiance to HIS/HER CONSTITUENTS, and publically repudiate all affiliations to any party or corporate organisation or group.

3. The representative to be subject to an absolute committment to account for his actions to a jury of constituents, if and when there is evidence that he/she has broken any condition of rule 2, and if proven, be subject to instant dismissal and replacement.

4. The representatives to elect one of their number president (PM in the case of the UK) solely to chair the meetings of the government.

5. All national policy decisions, especially use of military force to be made by majority vote of the representatives.

6. An undertaking, on pain of criminal prosecution, not to accept, within a ten year period of leaving office, employment in any corporation which held government contracts during the period of tenure as a representative.

7. A decent severance package to be standard on completion of the term of office, if not re-elected, tho' I think the good ones would be re-elected for sure.


IMHO, the needs and requirements of citizens are pretty much the same in almost all constituencies, and if they are paramount in the thinking of men who do not want to find themselves suddenly on the dole, the chances of corruption are at least considerably reduced.

Don T.