Bahgum
02-05-2005, 12:03
Having the dubious fun of sitting through a RT election, I have noticed that this time around the election is drvien by narrowly targetting a few people and that the majority could almost not know the election is taking place. Compared to previous elections, there are hardly any window stickers/bumper stickers/billboards/candidates door knocking activities, it all seems to be personalised letters to a few folk (my missus for example) and bland debates on issues affecting swing voters on TV.
Perhaps i'm jealous at not getting any mail, or maybe it's the recognition for swingers? Who knows? But I thought that there was a different angle for a UN debate here.........so here is the proposal (finally).....
Election, where?
A resolution to increase democratic freedoms.
Category: The Furtherment of Democracy
Strength: Mild
Proposed by: Bahgum
Description: Often nations debate the furthering of democracy in less advanced parts of the world and in those parts with alternative government. However, it is increasingly apparent that in advanced deomocracies that things sometimes need to be put back on track.
This proposal aims to tackle one of the more obvious faults of electioneering, that of the obsession with 'swing voters'.
The problem: to the majority of populations, they can be forgiven for thinking that a national election is not too important as almost all of the parties attention is focussed on a minority of undecided voters.
Why an issue?: This leads to parties having much the same issues and views, and can cause them to forget that being in government is for the good of the country, not the party and swing voters. Voter apathy by non swing voters is another concern.
The proposed change: Focus groups, computer targetting of swing voters and targetted mail and phone calls to individuals should be banned as a perversion of democracy.
National elections should not be conducted by chasing individuals, but should be conducted via means that target the masses i.e. by TV, Newspapers, advertising boards, party visits to towns etc.
By following the ethos of "talking to the nation", the outcome should be elections of interest to the nation, not small subgroups, with parties focussing on the nations needs, not selfishly chasing a few people in certain towns.
Perhaps i'm jealous at not getting any mail, or maybe it's the recognition for swingers? Who knows? But I thought that there was a different angle for a UN debate here.........so here is the proposal (finally).....
Election, where?
A resolution to increase democratic freedoms.
Category: The Furtherment of Democracy
Strength: Mild
Proposed by: Bahgum
Description: Often nations debate the furthering of democracy in less advanced parts of the world and in those parts with alternative government. However, it is increasingly apparent that in advanced deomocracies that things sometimes need to be put back on track.
This proposal aims to tackle one of the more obvious faults of electioneering, that of the obsession with 'swing voters'.
The problem: to the majority of populations, they can be forgiven for thinking that a national election is not too important as almost all of the parties attention is focussed on a minority of undecided voters.
Why an issue?: This leads to parties having much the same issues and views, and can cause them to forget that being in government is for the good of the country, not the party and swing voters. Voter apathy by non swing voters is another concern.
The proposed change: Focus groups, computer targetting of swing voters and targetted mail and phone calls to individuals should be banned as a perversion of democracy.
National elections should not be conducted by chasing individuals, but should be conducted via means that target the masses i.e. by TV, Newspapers, advertising boards, party visits to towns etc.
By following the ethos of "talking to the nation", the outcome should be elections of interest to the nation, not small subgroups, with parties focussing on the nations needs, not selfishly chasing a few people in certain towns.