Comments on: SMS Voting In Parliament http://indi.ca/2009/03/sms-voting-in-parliament/ I'm a Sri Lankan American Canadian graduate trying to make something of myself in Colombo Thu, 24 May 2012 19:04:03 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: maf http://indi.ca/2009/03/sms-voting-in-parliament/comment-page-1/#comment-232659 maf Mon, 09 Mar 2009 04:59:48 +0000 http://www.indi.ca/2009/03/sms-voting-in-parliament/#comment-232659 we are very very far from direct democracy. technology does not solve every problem and especially that of being an inclusive democracy (see what happened in Florida in 2000). democracy is a system and technology may be an enabler but is not a system of its own. for democracy to work here and elsewhere - people need to be engaged and the leadership needs to reflect that. Obama as President is a product of GW Bush being in power for 8 years - change was inevitable but the constituents wanted a radical departure from the path they had been on... the Sri Lankan chattering classes are not as apathetic as you make out nor probably as engaged as you would want with sms voting - they are most probably just trying to get by. the Swiss are probably the closest to direct democracy of any country that i know. check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voting_in_Switzerland but this system also has its faults: people only vote on what they care about. parlimentarians are meant to be there to represent us minions and to vote on issues our our behalf. they - the elected representatives should be brought to task for not being present and instead attending a colleague's child's wedding - but this is our culture and we put a greater priority on being socially adept than socially or morally responsible. we are very very far from direct democracy. technology does not solve every problem and especially that of being an inclusive democracy (see what happened in Florida in 2000). democracy is a system and technology may be an enabler but is not a system of its own. for democracy to work here and elsewhere – people need to be engaged and the leadership needs to reflect that. Obama as President is a product of GW Bush being in power for 8 years – change was inevitable but the constituents wanted a radical departure from the path they had been on…

the Sri Lankan chattering classes are not as apathetic as you make out nor probably as engaged as you would want with sms voting – they are most probably just trying to get by. the Swiss are probably the closest to direct democracy of any country that i know. check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voting_in_Switzerland but this system also has its faults: people only vote on what they care about. parlimentarians are meant to be there to represent us minions and to vote on issues our our behalf. they – the elected representatives should be brought to task for not being present and instead attending a colleague’s child’s wedding – but this is our culture and we put a greater priority on being socially adept than socially or morally responsible.

]]>