[extropy-chat] FWD (SK) Re: Market forces, state ownership (Re: Even M**x showed signs of authoritarianism?)

[Terry W. Colvin]

On 19/04/2006, at 11:15 PM, Beth Wolszon wrote:

> You could be describing Perot and Ventura with that sentence, too, 
> which is a big reason why the Independence Party of Minnesota returned 
> to its roots after its brief affiliation with Perot's national party.
>
>> THAT will make us look like a coherent and organized party and 
>> attract supporters in droves!
>
>
> And that, of course, could also describe the Democratic Party, or, as 
> it's legally called here in Minnesota, the Democratic-Farmer-Labor 
> (DFL) Party.


The relationships of political movements to the names they choose is 
full of curiosities.  Some years ago (1989)  the Australian Capital 
Territory (similar to the District of Columbia in the US) was given self 
government and set out to elect an Assembly.  For reasons that could 
only have made sense in a city of around 300,000 where the main industry 
is government, it was decided to adopt a "Modified D'Hondt" electoral 
model.  Apparently the unmodified D'Hondt system was a Belgian invention 
and, as befits a country whose national symbol is the Brussels Sprout, 
it was totally incomprehensible.  How it was modified to adapt to the 
Australian polity is another of those mysteries that are destined to 
remain unsolved.

However, it did encourage a vast range of groups to chance their arm in 
a bid to become part of the nascent government.  Apart from those 
parties that infest the rest of the nation (Labor, Liberal, National, 
Democrat) and a slew of independents, among the candidates on offer were 
those who represented such bodies as the Party! Party! Party!, 
the Disabled & Redeployed Workers Party, Abolish Self-Government 
Coalition, Fair Elections Coalition, Home Rule OK, Residents Rally, A 
Better Idea, Socialist Workers Party, Family Team, Christian Alternative 
Party, Sleepers Wake, No Self Government Party, The A.C.T. Community 
Party, Canberra First Party, Surprise Party, and the one that would 
certainly have attracted my vote, had I been eligible, the Sun-Ripened 
Warm Tomato party.

Around 150,000 people voted (88% of the enrolment) and, as far as I can 
recall the electorate was treated as a whole and 17 members were elected 
based on a preferential and proportional system (if such it can be 
called). Of the major parties  Labor had 5, Liberal had 4 while a local  
residents group, Residents Rally also had 4 - so no majority for any 
group.  The remaining 4 seats went 3 to No Self Government Party and 1 
to Abolish Self-Government Coalition.  Thus almost a quarter of the 
seats were held by members who opposed the whole idea of self 
government. From memory, the Labor party came to an accommodation with 
the Residents rally and governed for a while.

But the really interesting fact was , with only 150,000 votes to count, 
it took from March 4 (polling day) to May 8 for the final election 
results to be announced.  However, to prove that even bureaucrats are 
not as silly as they seem, before the next election the Modified D'Hondt 
system was abandoned as a method of determining the wishes of the 
electorate and taken out to sea and sunk as a hazard to shipping.

My only regret is that the Sun-Ripened Warm Tomato party was not 
involved in government, even though they outpolled most of the other 
also-rans and independents.

More details from www.elections.act.gov.au/result89.html

Barry Williams

the Skeptic of Oz



-- 
"Only a zit on the wart on the heinie of progress." Copyright 1992, Frank Rice


Terry W. Colvin, Sierra Vista, Arizona (USA) < fortean1 at mindspring.com >
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