Who wants to vote?
November 14, 2008

RADIO 2CBA FOCAL POINT COMMENTARY BROADCAST ON FRIDAY NOVEMBER 12 1999 ON RADIO 2CBA FM.

People are voting more but enjoying it less. There is a voter fatigue in many countries. People are still interested in politics but they do not like politicians.

I have been in Melbourne to speak at a Uniting Church forum on democracy. I was asked to give a global perspective on democracy and to speculate on future trends.

“Democracy” means “rule by the people” but there are various types of democracy. The classical Greeks had “direct democracy” because men – women, slaves and children did not have the vote – decided directly on policies. They discussed the issues and then they voted on them. This worked in small communities of people.

In about the 18th century, “representative democracy” emerged, whereby men voted for a person to represent them in parliament. About a century ago, women got the vote. Representative democracy was required because the political communities had become larger and the issues far more complex. What worked in a city-state like Athens could not work in a nation-state like Great Britain.

The industrial division of labour – whereby people had particular careers – meant that a separate group of people emerged – there were the politicians. About a century ago, being a politician became a full-time career, for which people (usually men) were paid.

But is representative democracy still the best type of democracy as we head into the next century? Should we head into the 21st century with a system of government created in the 18th century?

Many areas of life are being affected by the creation of the knowledge economy. The industrial era is ending and it is being replaced by the knowledge era, of which information technology is a key component.

Here is some speculation on how the knowledge economy could change political participation. All homes in Australia could be connected to the internet and voting could be done on-line.

In about three years, the television set will be connected to the internet. This means that people will not need to buy computers to get access to the internet. We could also arrange for voting to be done through the television set.

A new form of direct democracy could be created. Each day people could be asked on their television screens for their views on matters and they could vote on those issues.

This would be a cheaper proposition than the cost of running parliament and paying for the politicians. Of course, we would need to devise new ways of electing a government. But that is a better challenge than trying to find ways of propping up the 18th century version that we currently have and about which people are so sceptical.

Additionally, asking people for their opinion would give them an incentive to become better informed about what is being discussed and voted upon. It would also give a greater sense of ownership to the political decision-making process. It will reduce the current high level of voter fatigue and cynicism about politics.