I’ve been reflecting on politics a bit lately, given the interesting times in which we live, and especially watching the current Australian debate on the government stimulus package working its way through parliament.
We’ve had a situation a few times in recent history where independent senators have held extraordinary influence, and I don’t know if I’m the only one, but it bothers me that a single (or perhaps couple) of independent senators (who in reality often reflect the views of very few of us) can have such influence in our political process which is meant to reflect and represent the views of “the people”.
Flipside is that I also found the total majority situation that the Howard government enjoyed a dangerous thing because it gave them a blank cheque to pass legislation without solid debate and review.
Representative democracy is such a fascinating system…