I believe it is pretty close to pointless. Or the House of Representatives is. A democratic second chamber is at its most useless in a two party system. At least with multiparty PR there will rarely be a political party that dominates the chamber. However, innovative policy is threatened by party pettiness, in a way that's not true of a partly politically neutral chamber.
I'm not advocating appointing people to the chamber - but offering certain groups the ability to select (democratically or otherwise) some members. There could as easily be regional representatives, NGO representatives, media representatives etc. The government/Commons only chooses the types of expertise or representations the house requires. And for limited terms.
I guess I'm saying that 'checks and balances should exist to ensure that the elected politicians are not running the country irresponsibly.' If I could think of alternative scrutinising mechanisms, then fine. My concern is with getting the devil out of the detail - something politicians often screw up.
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Date: 2007-02-13 05:13 pm (UTC)I believe it is pretty close to pointless. Or the House of Representatives is. A democratic second chamber is at its most useless in a two party system. At least with multiparty PR there will rarely be a political party that dominates the chamber. However, innovative policy is threatened by party pettiness, in a way that's not true of a partly politically neutral chamber.
I'm not advocating appointing people to the chamber - but offering certain groups the ability to select (democratically or otherwise) some members. There could as easily be regional representatives, NGO representatives, media representatives etc. The government/Commons only chooses the types of expertise or representations the house requires. And for limited terms.
I guess I'm saying that 'checks and balances should exist to ensure that the elected politicians are not running the country irresponsibly.' If I could think of alternative scrutinising mechanisms, then fine. My concern is with getting the devil out of the detail - something politicians often screw up.