http://www.pledgebank.com/enopledge Comments on 'get three friends to sign up to the Proportional Representation Groundswell' en-gb team@pledgebank.com 1901-01-01T00:00+00:00 2 hourly http://www.pledgebank.com/enopledge#comment_2900 FULL DEMOCRACY.... The second house, 'County House' should be fully elected by the Electorate not any other Body/Person, that is democracy. County Members elected should have been resident in that County for five years prior to being elected. To become a full Democracy the 'Head of State' should also be elected by the elctorate not by birthright. http://www.pledgebank.com/enopledge#comment_2810 No. Just any change could be for the infinitely worse, e.g. a national closed party list system, like Israel. It's no use settling for second best, there will be no chance to make a further change for decades if we pick yet another bad system. STVMMC places the power securely where it should be - in the hands of the individual voter. Even serious independent candidates could be elected more often under that scheme. AV is not better than FPTP. It tends to produce less proportional results over all, and leaves the real power still with the party bosses. Jenkins had to find a fudged method of getting round that, and chose an additional member system, still based upon parties. Even then, Blair and his tribal party people wouldn't accept it. FPTP and AV are really also closed party list systems, where the list has only one name on it for each party. One of the beauties of STVMMC is that a tribal party member can still treat it like FPTP if they wish, and choose not to transfer their vote beyond their own candidates; but at the same time others can be more discriminating, so democracy is enhanced. Since the Irish Republic had STVMMC imposed on them at independence, I have heard that the political party hierarchies there have tried more than once to change it, but the canny electorate won't let them. We should learn from that. http://www.pledgebank.com/enopledge#comment_2794 Richard, FPTP is one of the worst systems we could have. Any PR system or even AV is better. Not a fan of STV, but it is infinitely better than FPTP. We could argue for ever over electoral systems BUT the main thing to point out is that FPTP is one of the worst! Out of interest my favourite in cellular constituencies (invented by the 'who should you vote for' website) First we have to unite behind change, any change! We should all sign this pledge, I will try to get as many friends on board as possible. http://www.pledgebank.com/enopledge#comment_1252 I am not signing this pledge because it is too vague, specifying "Proportional Representation" as its objective. There are many forms of PR, some of which are less desirable than the current "First Past The Post" arrangement, in that they place even more power in the hands of the political party bosses. I support "Fair Votes", and specifically the system recommended by the Electoral Reform Society, Single Transferrable Vote in Multi-Member Constituencies. STVMMC results are not always exactly proportional as between Parties, but deliver a much better representation of the wishes of the electorate. http://www.pledgebank.com/enopledge#comment_561 Dave M - have you looked at the blog linked to from the website's homepage ( http://www.makemyvotecount.org.uk/blog )? It gives more information, as does the forum also linked to from the home page. http://www.pledgebank.com/enopledge#comment_407 Its a good pledge, sign me up. http://www.pledgebank.com/enopledge#comment_362 Great start ... let's hope there's more of this kind of thing. http://www.pledgebank.com/enopledge#comment_309 The website could do with a lot more information about the groundswell. At the moment, it looks more like a honeypot for a spammer. Dave. http://www.pledgebank.com/enopledge#comment_246 I pledge to persuade as many of my freinds to sign up as I can.