BBC: Beyond Westminster
Some good things in this BBC-4 radio program, some less so.
To his credit, Jim Fishkin denounces public referenda (direct democracy) in the absence of deliberation. But in promoting his Deliberative Polling format with its large random sample, he dismisses local situations where a smaller jury-sized sample can carry views of the whole community at low cost.
The citizen interviews and the panel argument in the second half of this piece clearly demonstrate a rising polarisation that is not being reported. The activism for public participation is split along the same ideological lines of traditional politics. Those on the left retain respect for the system of representative government and the people in the public service, thus preferring deliberative democratic action to support them. Those on the right denounce elected officials and demonise the whole public service, thus preferring direct democratic action to sidestep them completely. Contrary to the prevailing rhetoric, it is the right-wing approach that is radical.
This brings me back to Government 2.0 initiatives. While leftist governments invite transparency and openness, the free-marketeers and techno-utopians see it as an opportunity to downsize government.
Published under a Creative Commons License
