IRV

  proportional representation

  hand counting, full glasnost

these three items could revitalise democratic process in the apathetic and cynical industrial states.  for that very reason they are opposed tooth and nail by established power, which likes the present somnambulist system very well indeed, ta very much.

voting machine scandals continue unabated in the US, as do vote counting and ballot handling scandals... if I were a UN official I would declare all US elections suspect and bring in the observers.

I keep wondering when some online ISP with an Ebay-like system will announce a whole alternative indie voting system, w/fully open accounting and GPL s'ware, and put all these State governments to shame.  of course, such a system would only count the votes of the privileged few worldwide who have internet access, and certainly there would be immediate blitzkrieg spamming and scamming assaults on it -- but it would be a fabulous (almost Situationist) joke to play on our masters, even so ...


The difference between theory and practise in practise ...