Comments on: Renew the Social Contract — The Cashmere Revolution http://oedipuslex.co.uk/2009/05/renew-the-social-contract-the-cashmere-revolution/ Tue, 07 Sep 2010 13:13:56 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: sweynh http://oedipuslex.co.uk/2009/05/renew-the-social-contract-the-cashmere-revolution/comment-page-1/#comment-22 sweynh Thu, 21 May 2009 17:40:46 +0000 http://oedipuslex.wordpress.com/?p=77#comment-22 Well, you are the lawyer, so if your advice is that what is going on here is a contract, I defer to your greater insight (although to this Scot, it seems like a strange sort of contract to me). Anyway, what is needed is not more scrutiny; it is more engagement, in between elections, between elected representatives and their electors: letters, arguments, emails, tweets, conversations in the supermarket or wine merchants'; anything to let them have confidence that we are all watching what they are doing, and that we have a stake in the outcomes of their decisions. Anything but apathetic indifference, or wild, over-dramatic calls for new settlements. Of course we also need total transparency of what they get out of their employment (personally): salary, expenses and so on; but that is a technical and easily-achieved detail. Well, you are the lawyer, so if your advice is that what is going on here is a contract, I defer to your greater insight (although to this Scot, it seems like a strange sort of contract to me).

Anyway, what is needed is not more scrutiny; it is more engagement, in between elections, between elected representatives and their electors: letters, arguments, emails, tweets, conversations in the supermarket or wine merchants’; anything to let them have confidence that we are all watching what they are doing, and that we have a stake in the outcomes of their decisions. Anything but apathetic indifference, or wild, over-dramatic calls for new settlements.

Of course we also need total transparency of what they get out of their employment (personally): salary, expenses and so on; but that is a technical and easily-achieved detail.

]]> By: oedipuslex http://oedipuslex.co.uk/2009/05/renew-the-social-contract-the-cashmere-revolution/comment-page-1/#comment-21 oedipuslex Thu, 21 May 2009 11:12:10 +0000 http://oedipuslex.wordpress.com/?p=77#comment-21 But we do contract with them. They make promises for their side of the contract and we, for ours, vote for them. How much more scrutiny do we need if there is no effective way of dealing with them, aside from voting in more of the same? Revolution has ugly overtones but something on the Czech or Ukranian model wouldn't go amiss. This can then be under-pinned by a codified constitution that is decided by the people not the politicians. But we do contract with them. They make promises for their side of the contract and we, for ours, vote for them. How much more scrutiny do we need if there is no effective way of dealing with them, aside from voting in more of the same?

Revolution has ugly overtones but something on the Czech or Ukranian model wouldn’t go amiss. This can then be under-pinned by a codified constitution that is decided by the people not the politicians.

]]> By: sweynh http://oedipuslex.co.uk/2009/05/renew-the-social-contract-the-cashmere-revolution/comment-page-1/#comment-20 sweynh Wed, 20 May 2009 20:29:02 +0000 http://oedipuslex.wordpress.com/?p=77#comment-20 But we don't contract with them. We elect them to represent us, and each of us should scrutinise those who represent us in as much detail and with as much energy as we can. One reason some of them have been able to lie to us with impunity (up until now) is that most people with the resources to challenge what they say cannot be bothered to engage with them (with the possible exception of a 3 or 4 week period every 5 years). For those literally struggling to make ends meet, and feed themselves, there is some excuse; for the rest of us, we get (collectively) the politicians we deserve. Now that you have noticed the problem what *do* you want? A Speaker who can hold *our* elected representatives to account? More rules for MPs? A revolution, with a new social contract, perhaps? Or for people who have the energy to blog and complain about MPs expenses *all* to engage with the political process *between* general elections? But we don’t contract with them. We elect them to represent us, and each of us should scrutinise those who represent us in as much detail and with as much energy as we can. One reason some of them have been able to lie to us with impunity (up until now) is that most people with the resources to challenge what they say cannot be bothered to engage with them (with the possible exception of a 3 or 4 week period every 5 years).

For those literally struggling to make ends meet, and feed themselves, there is some excuse; for the rest of us, we get (collectively) the politicians we deserve.

Now that you have noticed the problem what *do* you want? A Speaker who can hold *our* elected representatives to account? More rules for MPs? A revolution, with a new social contract, perhaps? Or for people who have the energy to blog and complain about MPs expenses *all* to engage with the political process *between* general elections?

]]> By: Renew the Social Contract - The Cashmere Revolution http://oedipuslex.co.uk/2009/05/renew-the-social-contract-the-cashmere-revolution/comment-page-1/#comment-19 Renew the Social Contract - The Cashmere Revolution Sun, 10 May 2009 12:50:46 +0000 http://oedipuslex.wordpress.com/?p=77#comment-19 [...] Original post by oedipuslex [...] […] Original post by oedipuslex […]

]]> By: Kittieskrafts http://oedipuslex.co.uk/2009/05/renew-the-social-contract-the-cashmere-revolution/comment-page-1/#comment-18 Kittieskrafts Sun, 10 May 2009 12:47:39 +0000 http://oedipuslex.wordpress.com/?p=77#comment-18 I completely agree. It is the same here in the States. Ben Franklin was an awesome dude! I completely agree. It is the same here in the States. Ben Franklin was an awesome dude!

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