Fred-Rik
I've often heard it said that what happens at the municipal level of governance is more important to our quality of life than the provincial or national decisions. I'm not sure I agree with that statement, but it is definitely "food for thought." And I have to wonder whether I'm still addicted to the drama of provincial and national affairs brings up, whereas municipal governance is more in the background.
The point I was trying to make with my previous post was that it is possible to have good governance without political parties. Canadian municipalities are a good example. If I am to fight a battle of the mind, "governance with only political parties" is a big obstacle.
Your comments about how neighboring countries can affect each other are appropriate. I had the pleasure of meeting an interesting fellow who had a job as a parking lot attendant at the Calgary Airport. He was a rather unassuming fellow with an unimportant job, but he regarded himself as a "social engineer." He said his brief interaction with many people could help them on their way to a little better day than before he came to his booth--and they would take some of his "brightness" to the rest of their day.
You might want to follow a Medium writer by the name of Allan Milne Lees. He has written a book about his version of better governance. His premise is that 86% of the population is really the of formulating a sound logical opinion on people aspiring to govern and their vision for society. Rather the 86% votes mostly by emotion--and political parties pander to that 86% over the 14%. The rest is not very good governance. In this sense, I have to agree with him (but we could quibble about the 86/14 split).
His vision is to cut the 86% out of voting! And then turn representative democracy into direct democracy, with the 14% making the decisions.
He realizes that the 86% are not going to like this idea. So he says the only path is to eventually have a civil war--and hopefully, from those ashes, a direct democracy emerges, run by the 14%.
His solution and the path from HERE to THERE are a little lacking. But I sure admire his ability to think outside the box. And his articles on Medium are quite superb.
