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Re: A new political party
John BUNZL
Sunday, 25 May 2003 21:24:15 +0200
Dear Troy and Friends,
Troy's suggestion is an interesting one and is particularly valid from the point of view that legitimate and democratic supranational or world governance/government can only arise if some measure of national sovereignty and power is first ceded to it by nation states. Indeed, as Troy indicates, this is what is already evolving in the smaller model of the European Union.
As such, Troy is right that seeking change through national governments and existing political systems is the only way a proper WP (rather than just a talking shop "shadow assembly") can be achieved and this, logically, brings us back to political parties. Troy suggests that "there are two main options: - run with an existing party - or create our own independent party".
But I would like to suggest that there is a third, quite new option; one that is presently being pursued by the International Simultaneous Policy Organisation (ISPO).
This involves two components: first, creating our OWN policy agenda (which might include the necessary provisions for establishing a WP) and, secondly, pledging to vote in future elections for ANY existing political party - within reason - that officially adopts that agenda. The policy agenda I am speaking of is known as the "Simultaneous Policy (SP)", so named because it is to be implemented by all or virtually all nations simultaneously. This voting pledge is what citizens around the world make when they adopt SP and increasing numbers are already doing so.
By adopting SP, and thus pledging to vote for ANY existing political party (within reason) in this way, we can potentially bring all existing mainstream parties into stiff competition with one another. This is because more and more parliamentary seats - and even entire elections (eg. US Presidential election in 2000) - are being won or lost on an ever-reducing margin of votes. So the number of SP adopters needed to force one or even all mainstream parties to adopt SP can be relatively small. Since implementation of SP is simultaneous (i.e. it goes ahead only when all or sufficient nations have adopted it), politicians risk no competitive economic disadvantage by merely adopting SP, and yet, if they fail to adopt SP, they could risk losing the election to competing politicians that have adopted. As the number of SP adopters increases, this is a proposition politicians of all colours will, I suggest, find increasingly difficult to refuse.
So this, very briefly, is the "third alternative" I am speaking of. Since the number of supporters needed to achieve the desired effect could be much smaller than the two alternatives Troy mentions, I respectfully suggest it might be worth members of this forum taking a closer look
http://www.simpol.org With best wishes
John Bunzl - Director ISPO
WP21 Alliance Forum on a World Parliament for the 21st Century
E-mail : world-parl@forums.alliance21.org
Fax 1 717 264 5036
Information, inscriptions, désinscriptions: germa@alliance21.org
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