The enlightenment has exhausted itself in the US Republic. The system of electoral representation as espoused in Madison's Federalist No.10 has proved to be gullible to special interests. This has meant that legislatures represent minority interest rather than public good. A new compact between the people and government is required, one that uses the wisdom and statistical weight of the voting population to overcome the limitations of the representative system.

Modern society is highly educated, has access to all manner of media, and is also alienated and often disenfranchised by the political process. These are the right conditions for an increase in direct democracy as a means to temper the ills, failings and special interest susceptibility of a representative system.

Ratification can be added to the existing Australian parliamentary system without any changes to the system itself. All that will be required is the establishment of a new political party: the Australian Ratification Party.

The Representative Systems

The Australian parliament consists of two houses. Both the upper and lower houses contain representatives who are popularly elected by an electorate. With the dominance of party discipline, the representatives are only really held responsible to the electorate at election time. This was intended by design in the US Republic and the Westminster system. It was assumed that a representative was better able to judge common good against minority interest. This has not been the case as party discipline, special interests, purchasing access and social-class have nullified this supposed advantage of a representative system.

In the United States, the purchasing of the representatives by monied interests has meant that the representatives legislate for a minority, often over the wishes of the majority. This has also been the case in Australia. The most recent pressure on the representative system was the Iraq war. Polls in Australia showed that seventy per-cent did not want to invade Iraq without the legitimacy of the UN. The Howard Government chose to invade anyway - without seeking approval from the Senate.

A Ratifier Representative

The Ratification Party would elect a representative to sit in parliament and convey the will of the electorate directly. Each bill that is put infront of parliament would have to be voted on by a section of the electorate chosen by sortition. This would ensure a sufficient statistical weighting of the electorate votes on the bill, while not over-burdening the voters with too great a frequency of bills. Approximately one a fortnight would be sufficient for a voter to take detailed interest.

The sortition process would be open to anyone in the electorate, no matter what their party affiliation. The purpose of ratification is to represent the electorate directly in parliament. Members of the electorate to vote on bills would be chosen from lottery. There would be the need to ensure some way that those that are signed up to participate are in the electorate. But this would be an operational issue.

There would be technological issues surrounding electorate votes on bills. Such as notifying those that have been chosen by sortition to vote on the bill. Getting the wording of the bill to them. Electoral debate on the bill. Also returning the electorates vote on the bill, and having that vote tallied so the Ratification Representative can vote Yes or No on the bill in Parliament.

The Will Of The Majority And Protection Of Minorities

One of the problems of a representative system is that it offers smaller point of failure if the public good is not being adhered to. The representative system in the United States has been co-opted by lobbyists and money. As a consequence, the system is subject to special interests and legislation is passed that directly benefits those special interests. This is tyranny of the minority over the majority. Having the electorate vote on each bill will stop this warping of the representative republic.

The flipside of direct democracy is how to protect the human and political rights of minorities when faced with the will of the majority. Australia has no codified political rights or protections from government in the Constitution, as a result, the Ratification Party will have to provide where government doesn't. This will involve;

• A Ratification Party Bill of Rights
• Complete enfranchisement in the direct process for the electorate

These two innovations at the party level will be necessary to protect the rights of minorities, and to give minorities a voice.

Internal Rights

The most modern of the political rights legislation on the globe at the moment is the New Zealand Bill of Rights . This document would have to be projected onto parliament by proxy, meaning that the electorate cannot pass any bill that would contradict this Bill of Rights.

It would also mean that the Ratification Representative, through the direct will of the electorate would have to take an incumbent government to task for any infringements of rights that are covered in the bill. This would be done by the electorate creating a petition/poll which would then be out out to voting within the electorate, and the Ratification Representative then relaying on the outcome of that petition to Parliament.

Abundance In The Community

Another means to avoid the vilification of minorities through legislation is to give them a voice in the political process. Currently Australian electoral rolls restrict voters to Australian citizenship, rather than anyone above the age of reason who is under the jurisdiction of the Australian government - especially taxpayers.

The Ratification Party would allow anyone in the electorate, who is above the age of eighteen to participate in the ratification process. This increased enfranchisement would increase the pace of assimilation for minorities and a consequent greater tolerance from the wider community. As these bills and process are debated in the electorate - at town halls, community centres, schools, parks and neighbourhood homes - the increased enfranchisement will put faces, and people to issues.

People are all good inside and will be more tolerant of different lifestyles when they see a real human being, who smiles, laughs and is a member of the community. A ratification process will increase the strength of the community, not break it.

Legal and Constitutional Advice

Legislation in the Westminster system is the domain of specialists. The arcane art of indirect language will have to be change to the simple and direct language of the community. This will have the benefit of making law much more readable - not to mention understandable. The electorate would be encouraged to vote no on any law they didn't understand.

Another aspect of the electorate will be the need to gather to discuss legislative issues, whether via internet, phone, or community gatherings. There will need to be access to specialists in law so that the electorate can give an informed vote on a bill. The Ratification Party will need to support some kind of floating table of judges, lawyers and academics that can make themselves available to larger community meetings, as well as to online forums, so that the electorate can quiz them on constitutional law that they are uncertain about.

Ultimately these same people will be taking part in the ratification process themselves and will add their specialist wisdom on these matters to the wider wisdom of the people. But in the initial stages, before direct democracy becomes a normal part of Australian civic life, there will need to be access by the electorate to specialists in these areas.

Creating Legislation

The Ratification Representative allows the electorate to have a direct input on legislation as well. Legislation can be created within the electorate and voted on internally to determine if the Ratification Representative will present the legislation to Parliament for vote. The legislation would need to be mindful of the internal Bill of Rights, as well as Australian Constitutional law before it can be ratified by the electorate to be passed on to Parliament.

Conclusion

Creating a Ratification Party will tap the wisdom of the people to the benefit of Australian governance. The process of Ratification and the sitting of a Ratification Representative in Parliament will give the Australian people a direct voice into democracy. An aspect which has sadly been forgotten in Federation and party political dominance.

There is no need for change to the existing Westminster system, as all the innovations occur under the Ratification Representative. This method of direct democracy can be grafted immediately and transparently into the current Australian political system at the Federal, State and Territorial level.

The ratification process allows for the will of the majority to be heard. The internal Bill of Rights along with complete enfranchisement in the electorate balances the will of the majority by protecting the rights of minorities. Many of the other properties of this system will become emergent as the wisdom of the people finds new means to organize themselves with a direct democratic voice.

To many Australians, we cannot imagine a feudal life, it is beyond our understanding and rationality. The day will come when future Australians cannot understand how an electorate handed over the process of creation and voting on legislation to an individual representative. Direct democracy will be the next rationality change in government, and a Ratification Party is the first step in this process.

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