On the 280th anniversary of George Washington's birth the final four met to debate the issues. A lot of speculation has arisen as to whether Mitt Romney will have Ron Paul as VP (or perhaps his son Kentucky Senator Rand Paul).
Even the Guardian which has ignored Paul's presence to date is now looking at the candidate with fresh eyes and recognising that his campaign may be delivering results whilst not always getting headlines.
But what was more interesting for me was the way that all four candidates were drawing together on policy and it seems to me that behind the scenes the Republican Party is drawing up its manifesto: (converted into Jersey English)
- Return welfare from the federal government to the States (return welfare from the States to the Parishes)
- Balance the budget and work to pay down the debt (this is a foreign concept to Jersey)
- Ensure that government workers do not get paid more than private sector employees (this is a foreign concept to Jersey)
- Repeal all the civil service laws and introduce modern management techniques (this is treason in Jersey)
- Return as much responsibility from the federal government to the individual states as possible and from them to the people (this is treason in Jersey)
The Full Debate (1hr 45mins)
I would be voting Republican based on this debate. You have to say that that is pretty much Paul's platform, even if they are still dead set on war in the Middle East.
A significant proportion of this debate was focused on attacking the stance of Barack Obama. As we close in on Super Tuesday with 14 states voting in a ten day period starting on Tuesday with Michigan and Arizona, the race is starting to sharpen in focus.
There is something to be said for an election to decide the opposition, not just the people but the policies, and it is something that those who would seek to change the direction of Government in Jersey might do well to consider in 2014.
If a series of Parish caucuses, took place in advance of the nominations, all those who would seek to change the direction of the Government could come together. Through the process, a unified message could be derived, which could then be extolled by the candidates selected by that process. A proper election could then ensue with a legitimate choice between the agents of government (Bailhache, Ozouf etc.) and the agents of the people, selected by the people.
- It would provide valuable public speaking opportunities to potential candidates
- Give additional exposure to those who are not widely known, particularly if we received the support of the BBC, etc.
- It would set an agenda for the election which was chosen by the people and not by the government.
You are trying to run before you can walk.
ReplyDeleteFor your plan to be effective Jersey first needs party politics to be the norm.
Without that all you have is a tarted up variation on what the likes of the JDA have previously attempted. Realistically, you're likely to have not much more success than them.
As things currently stand, because it's highly unlikely party politics will become the norm in Jersey in either of our lifetimes, you would be better off campaigning for voting to be a legal obligation to islanders.
That would have the effect of forcing people to take an interest in politics, which would be a logical first step.
It's the long game over here, you know how it is. But if you don't start with the firmest possible foundation, ingrained public political apathy decrees by default that any political idea of change via "people power" is doomed to crumble no matter how passionate the instigator may be about it.
On the contrary Party Politics cannot become the norm until there are Political Parties.
ReplyDeleteI would further suggest that the failure of the JDA was due to its top down approach, rather than a bottom up approach. Parties are formed by people not politicians.
The way to build a party is to have a process which attracts people in over the course of time.
But this is not about forming a political party, it is about a process through which anyone and everyone can freely express their opinions.
Forcing people to take an interest is not a Libertarian ethos, everything is done by free will or not at all.
Remember in some of these US Caucus precincts as few as six people actually turned up whilst in others the numbers were in the three hundreds, I don't think apathy is a peculiarly Jersey trait.
If a Caucus in St Mary attracted 20 people out of the 1,500 it would still be representative of St Mary, that after all is how politics works, if you don't vote you don't matter.